ji^m.*.^ 


GREECE 

AND 

THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 


GREECE 

AND   THE 

AEGEAN  ISLANDS 

BY 

PHILIP  SANFORD   MARDEN 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 


'^  i"  *  -"^  o  r 


COPYRIGHT    1907   BV   PHILIP  S.   MARDEN 
ALL    RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Publish'd  November  rqo7 


PROLEGOMENA 

WHAT  follows  makes  no  pretense  whatever  of 
being  a  scientific  work  on  Greece,  from  an 
archaeological  or  other  standpoint.  That  it  is  written 
at  all  is  the  resultant  of  several  forces,  chief  among 
which  are  the  consciousness  that  no  book  hitherto 
published,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  covered  quite  the 
same  ground,  and  the  feeling,  based  on  the  experi- 
ence of  myself  and  others,  that  some  such  book  ought 
to  be  available. 

By  way  of  explanation  and  apology,  I  am  forced  to 
admit,  even  to  myself,  that  what  I  have  written,  espe- 
cially in  the  opening  chapters,  is  liable  to  the  occa- 
sional charge  that  it  has  a  guide-bookish  sound,  de- 
spite an  honest  and  persistent  effort  to  avoid  the  same. 
In  the  sincere  desire  to  show  how  easy  it  really  is  to 
visit  Hellas,  and  in  the  ardent  hope  of  making  a  few 
of  the  rough  places  smooth  for  first  visitors,  I  have 
doubtless  been  needlessly  prolix  and  explicit  at  the 
outset,  notably  in  dealing  with  a  number  of  sordid  de- 
tails and  directions.  Moreover,  to  deal  in  so  small  a 
compass  with  so  vast  a  subject  as  that  of  ancient  and 
modern  Athens  is  a  task  fraught  with  many  difficul- 
ties. One  certainly  cannot  in  such  a  book  as  this  ignore 


vi  PROLEGOMENA 

Athens  utterly,  despite  the  fact  that  so  much  has  been 
published  hitherto  about  the  city  and  its  monuments 
that  no  further  description  is  at  all  necessary.  My  ob- 
ject is  not  to  make  Athens  more  familiar,  but  rather 
to  describe  other  and  more  remote  sites  in  Greece  for 
the  information,  and  I  hope  also  for  the  pleasure,  of 
past  and  future  travelers.  Athens,  however,  I  could  not 
ignore ;  and  while  such  brief  treatment  as  is  possible 
here  is  necessarily  superficial,  it  may  help  to  awaken 
an  additional  interest  in  that  city  where  none  existed 
before. 

Aside  from  the  preliminary  chapters  and  those  deal- 
ing with  Athens  itself,  I  hope  to  have  been  more  suc- 
cessful. I  have,  at  any  rate,  been  free  in  those  other 
places  from  the  depressing  feeling  that  I  was  engaged 
on  a  work  of  supererogation,  since  this  part  of  the 
subject  is  by  no  means  hackneyed  even  through  treat- 
ment by  technical  writers.  Since  the  publication  of 
most  of  the  better  known  books  on  Greek  travel,  a 
great  deal  has  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  ex- 
cavation, and  much  that  is  interesting  has  been  laid 
bare,  which  has  not  been  adequately  described,  even 
in  the  technical  works.  In  dealing  with  these  addi- 
tions and  in  describing  journeys  to  less  familiar  in- 
land sites,  as  well  as  cruises  to  sundry  of  the  classic 
islands  of  the  ^gean,  I  hope  this  book  will  find  its 
real  excuse  for  being. 


PROLEGOMENA  vii 

In  adopting  a  system  for  spelling  the  names  of  Greek 
cities,  towns,  and  islands,  I  have  been  in  something  of 
a  quandary,  owing  to  the  possibilities  presented  by  the 
various  customs  of  authors  in  this  field,  each  one  of 
which  has  something  to  recommend  it  and  something, 
also,  of  disadvantage.  If  one  spells  Greek  names  in  the 
more  common  Anglicized  fashion,  especially  in  writ- 
ing for  the  average  traveler,  one  certainly  avoids  the 
appearance  of  affectation,  and  also  avoids  misleading 
the  reader  by  an  unfamiliar  form  of  an  otherwise  famil- 
iar word.  Hence,  after  much  debate  and  rather  against 
my  own  personal  preferences  and  usage  in  several 
instances,  I  have  adhered  in  the  main  to  the  forms  of 
name  most  familiar  to  American  eyes  and  ears.  In 
cases  of  obscure  or  little  known  sites,  where  it  is  occa- 
sionally more  important  to  know  the  names  as  locally 
pronounced,  I  have  followed  the  Greek  forms.  This, 
while  doubtless  not  entirely  logical,  has  seemed  the 
best  way  out  of  a  rather  perplexing  situation,  bound 
to  be  unsatisfactory  whichever  way  one  attempts  to 
solve  the  problem. 

In  mercy  to  non-Hellenic  readers,  I  have  likewise 
sought  to  exclude  with  a  firm  hand  quotations  from 
the  Greek  language,  and  as  far  as  reasonably  possible 
to  avoid  the  use  of  Greek  words  or  expressions  when 
English  would  answer  every  purpose. 

If,  in  such  places  as  have  seemed  to  demand  it,  I 


viii  PROLEGOMENA 

have  touched  upon  archaeological  matters,  I  hope  not 
to  have  led  any  reader  far  from  the  truth,  although  one 
admittedly  an  amateur  in  such  matters  runs  grave  risk 
in  committing  himself  to  paper  where  even  the  doctors 
themselves  so  often  disagree.  I  hope  especially  to  have 
escaped  advancing  mere  personal  opinions  on  moot 
points,  since  dilettanti  in  such  a  case  have  litde  busi- 
ness to  own  any  opinions,  and  none  at  all  to  exploit 
them  to  the  untutored  as  if  they  had  importance  or 
weight.  Rather  I  have  only  the  desire  to  arouse 
others  to  a  consciousness  that  it  is  as  easy  now  to 
view  and  enjoy  the  visible  remnants  of  the  glory  that 
was  Greece,  as  it  is  to  view  those  of  the  grandeur  that 
was  Rome. 

In  the  writing  of  these  chapters  an  effort  has  been 
made  to  set  forth  in  non-technical  terms  only  what 
the  writer  himself  has  seen  and  observed  among 
these  haunts  of  remote  antiquity,  with  the  idea  of 
confining  the  scope  of  this  book  to  the  needs  of  those 
who,  like  himself,  possess  a  veneration  for  the  old 
things,  an  amateur's  love  for  the  classics,  and  a  desire 
to  see  and  know  that  world  which  was  born,  lived, 
and  died  before  our  own  was  even  dreamed  of  as 
existing.  If  by  what  is  written  herein  others  are  led 
to  go  and  see  for  themselves,  or  are  in  any  wise 
assisted  in  making  their  acquaintance  with  Greece, 
or,  better  still,  are  enabled  the  more  readily  to  recall 


PROLEGOMENA  ix 

days  spent  in  that  most  fascinating  of  all  the  bygone 
nations,  then  this  book,  however  unworthily  dealing 
with  a  great  subject,  will  not  have  been  written  in 
vain. 

Philip  Sanford  Marden. 

Lowell,  Mass.,  August,  1907. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

I.  TRAVELING  IN  GREECE      .     ,     .  i 

II.  CRETE i8 

III.     THE    ENTRANCE    TO    GREECE                .            .  37 
IV.     ATHENS  ;    THE    MODERN    CITY        .             .  50 
V.     ANCIENT    ATHENS  :    THE  ACROPOLIS             .  76 
VL     ANCIENT      ATHENS  :     THE     OTHER    MONU- 
MENTS       ......  96 

VII.     EXCURSIONS    IN    ATTICA        ...  123 

VIII.     DELPHI             ......  146 

IX.     MYCEN^    AND    THE    PLAIN   OF  ARGOS    .  169 

X.     NAUPLIA    AND    EPIDAURUS        .  .  .193 

XL     IN    ARCADIA         .             .            .            .            .  211 

XII.     ANDHRITS^NA  AND  THE  BASS^ 

TEMPLE             .....  229 

XIII.  OVER    THE    HILLS    TO    OLYMPIA          .             .  247 

XIV.  THE    ISLES    OF    GREECE:    DELOS                .  272 
XV.     SAMOS      AND      THE      TEMPLE      AT      BRAN- 
CHID^.             .....  286 

XVI.     COS   AND    CNIDOS  .  .  .  .  .304 

XVII.     RHODES      .             .            .            .            .            .  318 

XVIII.     THERA 334 

XIX.     NIOS;    PAROS;    a    midnight    MASS          .  351 

XX.     CORFU 368 

INDEX 381 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


ACROPOLIS,    SHOWING    PROPYL^A  Frontispiece 

MAP  ........  I 

LANDING-PLACE    AT    CANEA  ....  20 

THRONE    OF    MINOS    AT    CNOSSOS  ...        34 

STORE-ROOMS    IN    MINOAN    PALACE,    CNOSSOS  ^d 

OLD    CHURCH    IN    TURKISH    QUARTER,    ATHENS   .         60 
TEMPLE    OF    NIKE    APTEROS  ....  80 

THE   PARTHENON,    WEST    PEDIMENT    ...        86 
TEMPLE    OF    OLYMPIAN    ZEUS  .  .  .  104 

THE    AREOPAGUS 108 

THE    THESEUM 112 

TOMB    AMPHORA,    CERAMICUS     .  .  .  .116 

TOMB    RELIEF,    CERAMICUS     .  .  .  .  118 

BRONZE    EPHEBUS,    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,   ATHENS       120 
THE    TEMPLE    AT    SUNIUM       ....  134 

THE    APPROACH    TO    ^GINA         .  .      •       .  .138 

THE    TEMPLE    AT    ^GINA  .  .  .  .  138 

PEASANT    DANCERS    AT    MENIDI  .  .  .142 

THE    PLAIN    BELOW    DELPHI  .  .  .  150 

THE    VALE    OF   DELPHI 156 

CHARIOTEER,    DELPHI  .  .  .  .  166 

AGORA,    MYCEN^ .180 

WOMAN    SPINNING   ON   ROAD   TO   EPIDAURUS    .  198 


XIV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


EPIDAURIAN    SHEPHERDS 

THEATRE    AT    EPIDAURUS 

AN    OUTPOST    OF    ARCADY 

THE    GORGE    OF    THE    ALPHEIOS      . 

ANDHRITS^NA  .... 

AN    ARBOREAL    CAMPANILE.    ANDHRITS^NA 

THRESHING    FLOOR    AT    BASS^ 

TEMPLE    AT    BASS^,    FROM    ABOVE 

TEMPLE    AT    BASS/E,    FROM    BELOW      . 

HER^UM.    OLYMPIA 

ENTRANCE    TO    THE    STADIUM.    OLYMPIA 

DELOS,   SHOWING    GROTTO       . 

GROTTO    OF    APOLLO,    DELOS       . 

COLUMN    BASES.    SAMOS 

CARVED    COLUMN-BASE.    BRANCHIDiE 

TREE    OF    HIPPOCRATES.    COS 

CNIDOS,    SHOWING   THE    TWO    HARBORS 

SCULPTURED      TRIREME     IN     ROCK     AT 

(From  a  Sketch  by  the  Author) 
ARCHED    PORTAL    OF    ACROPOLIS.    LINDOS 
SANTORIN  ..... 

LANDING-PLACE    AT    THERA  . 

THERA    ...... 

A   THERAN    STREET 

OLD    COLUMNS    IN    CHURCH,    PAROS    . 

"  SHIP    OF    ULYSSES."    CORFU 


202 

206 

.   224 

226 

230 

MA   .     234 

240 

244 

.   244 

258 

.   262 

282 

.   282 

296 

296 

306 

.   314 

LINDOS. 

.   327 

>    .     328 

.   336 

338 

.   342 

346 

.   362 

374 

GREECE 

AND 

THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 


CHAPTER  I.     TRAVELING  IN 
GREECE 


THE  days  in  which  a  visit  to  Greece  might 
be  set  down  as  something  quite  unusual  and 
apart  from  the  beaten  track  of  European  travel  have 
passed  away,  and  happily  so.  The  announcement  of 
one's  intention  to  visit  Athens  and  its  environs  no 
longer  affords  occasion  for  astonishment,  as  it  did 
when  Greece  was  held  to  be  almost  the  exclusive 
stamping-ground  of  the  more  strenuous  archaeo- 
logists. To  be  sure,  those  who  have  never  experi- 
enced the  delights  of  Hellenic  travel  are  still  given 
to  wonderment  at  one's  expressed  desire  to  revisit 
the  classic  land  ;  but  even  this  must  pass  away  in  its 
turn,  since  few  voyage  thither  without  awakening 
that  desire. 

It  is  no  longer  an  undertaking  fraught  with  any 
difficulty  —  much  less  with  any  danger  —  to  visit  the 
main  points  of  interest  in  the  Hellenic  kingdom ; 
and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose  in  the  estimation 


2     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  many,  it  is  no  longer  an  enterprise  beset  with  dis- 
comfort, to  any  greater  degree  than  is  involved  in 
a  journey  through  Italy.  The  result  of  the  growing 
consciousness  of  this  fact  has  been  a  steadily  increas- 
ing volume  of  travel  to  this  richest  of  classic  lands  — 
richest  not  alone  in  its  intangible  memories,  but  rich- 
est also  in  its  visible  monuments  of  a  remote  past, 
presenting  undying  evidence  of  the  genius  of  the 
Greeks  for  expressing  the  beautiful  in  terms  of  marble 
and  stone.  One  may,  of  course,  learn  to  appreciate 
the  beautiful  in  Greek  thought  without  leaving  home, 
embodied  as  it  is  in  the  imposing  literary  remains  to 
be  met  with  in  traversing  the  ordinary  college  course. 
But  in  order  fully  to  know  the  beauty  of  the  sculp- 
tures and  architecture,  such  as  culminated  in  the  age 
of  Pericles,  one  must  visit  Greece  and  see  with  his 
own  eyes  what  the  hand  of  Time  has  spared,  often 
indeed  in  fragmentary  form,  but  still  occasionally 
touched  with  even  a  new  loveliness  through  the  mel- 
lowing processes  of  the  ages. 

To  any  thinking,  reading  man  or  woman  of  the 
present  day,  the  memories,  legends,  and  history  of 
ancient  Greece  must  present  sufficient  attraction.  Few 
of  us  stop  to  realize  how  much  of  our  modern  thought 
and  feeling  was  first  given  adequate  expression  by 
the  inhabitants  of  ancient  Athens,  or  how  much  of 
our  own  daily  speech  is  directly  traceable  to  their 


TRAVELING  IN  GREECE  3 

tongue.  Modern  politics  may  still  learn  much  tact 
of  Pericles,  and  oratorical  excellence  of  ^schines, 
as  modern  philosophy  has  developed  from  Socrates, 
Plato,  and  Aristotle.  Is  it  not  even  true  that  a  large 
part  of  modern  religious  thought,  the  hope  of  glory 
at  least,  if  not  the  means  of  grace,  finds  its  strongest 
foreshadowing  in  the  groping  of  the  more  enlightened 
Athenians  for  a  hope  of  immortality  and  life  beyond 
the  grave  ?  The  transition  of  the  crowning  architec- 
tural glory  of  the  Acropolis  at  Athens  from  a  temple 
of  the  virgin  (parthenos)  Athena  to  a  church  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  was,  after  all,  not  so  violent,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  later  paganism  had  softened 
from  its  old  system  of  corrupt  personal  deities  to  an 
abstract  embodiment  of  their  chief  attributes  or  qual- 
ities, such  as  wisdom,  healing,  love,  and  war.  Down 
to  this  day  the  traces  of  the  pagan,  or  let  us  say  the 
classic  period,  are  easy  to  discern,  mingled  with  the 
modern  Greek  Christianity,  often  unconsciously,  and 
of  course  entirely  devoid  of  any  content  of  pagan- 
ism, but  still  unmistakably  there.  To  this  day  festivals 
once  sacred  to  Asklepios  still  survive,  in  effect,  though 
observed  on  Christian  holy  days  and  under  Christian 
nomenclature,  with  no  thought  of  reverence  for  the 
Epidaurian  god,  but  nevertheless  preserving  intact 
the  ancient  central  idea,  which  impelled  the  wor- 
shiper to  sleep  in  the  sanctuary  awaiting  the  healing 


4    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

visit  of  a  vision.  In  every  church  in  Greece  to-day 
one  may  see  scores  of  little  metal  arms,  legs,  eyes,  and 
other  bodily  organs  hung  up  as  votive  offerings  on 
the  iconastasis,  or  altar  screen,  just  as  small  anatom- 
ical models  were  once  laid  by  grateful  patients  on  the 
shrine  of  Asklepios  at  Cos.  It  is  most  striking  and 
impressive,  this  interweaving  of  relics  of  the  old-time 
paganism  with  the  modem  Greek  religion,  showing 
as  it  does  a  well-marked  line  of  descent  from  the 
ancient  beliefs  without  violent  disruption  or  transi- 
tion. It  has  become  a  well-recognized  fact  that  certain 
modern  churches  often  directly  replace  the  ancient 
temples  of  the  spot  in  a  sort  of  orderly  system,  even 
if  it  be  hard  occasionally  to  explain.  The  successors 
of  the  fanes  of  Athena  are  ordinarily  churches  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  as  was  the  case  when  the  Parthenon 
was  used  for  Christian  worship.  In  other  sites  the 
worship  of  Poseidon  gave  way  to  churches  sacred  to 
St.  Nicholas.  The  old  temples  of  Ares  occasionally 
flowered  again,  and  not  inappropriately,  as  churches 
of  the  martial  St.  George.  Dionysus  lives  once  more 
in  churches  named  "St.  Dionysius,"  though  no  longer 
possessing  any  suspicion  of  a  Bacchic  flavor.  Most 
striking  of  all  is  the  almost  appalling  number  of  hills 
and  mountains  in  Greece  named  "  St.  Elias,"  and 
often  bearing  monasteries  or  churches  of  that  designa- 
tion. There  is  hardly  a  site  in  all  Greece  from  which 


TRAVELING   IN   GREECE  5 

it  is  not  possible  to  see  at  least  one  "  St.  Elias,"  and  I 
have  been  told  that  this  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
the  perpetuation  of  the  ancient  shrines  of  Helios  (the 
sun)  under  a  Christian  name,  which,  in  the  modern 
Greek  pronunciation,  is  of  a  sound  almost  exactly 
similar  to  the  ancient  one.  The  substitution,  there- 
fore, when  Christianity  came  to  its  own,  was  not 
an  unnatural,  nor  indeed  an  entirely  inappropriate, 
one. 

It  all  conspires  to  show  that,  while  the  modem 
Greek  is  sincerely  and  devoutly  a  Christian,  his  tran- 
sition into  his  new  faith  from  the  religdon  of  his  remot- 
est ancestors  has  been  accompanied  by  a  very  consid- 
erable retention  of  old  usages  and  old  nomenclature, 
and  by  the  persistence  of  ineradicable  traces  of  the 
idealistic  residuum  that  remained  after  the  more  gross 
portions  of  the  ancient  mytholog}"  had  refined  away 
and  had  left  to  the  worshiper  abstract  godlike  attri- 
butes, rather  than  the  gods  and  goddesses  his  fore- 
fathers had  created  in  man's  unworthy  image.  So, 
while  nobody  can  call  in  question  the  Christianity  of 
the  modern  Greek,  his  churches  nevertheless  often  do 
mingle  a  quaint  perfume  of  the  ancient  and  classic 
days  with  the  modern  incense  and  odor  of  sanctity. 
To  my  own  mind,  this  obvious  direct  descent  of  many 
a  churchly  custom  or  churchly  name  from  the  days  of 
the  mythical  Olympian  theocracy  is  one  of  the  most 


6     GREECE  AND   THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

impressively  interesting  things  about  modern  Hellas 
and  her  people. 

In  a  far  less  striking,  but  no  less  real  way,  we  our- 
selves are  of  course  the  direct  inheritors  of  the  classic 
Greeks,  legatees  of  their  store  of  thought,  literature, 
and  culture,  and  followers  on  the  path  the  Greeks 
first  pioneered.  They  and  not  we  have  been  the  cre- 
ators in  civilization,  with  all  its  varied  fields  of  activ- 
ity from  politics  to  art.  Of  our  own  mental  race  the 
Greeks  were  the  progenitors,  and  it  is  enough  to  re- 
cognize this  fact  of  intellectual  descent  and  kinship 
in  order  to  view  the  Athenian  Acropolis  and  the  Hill 
of  Mars  with  much  the  same  thrill  that  one  to-day 
feels,  let  us  say,  in  coming  from  Kansas  or  California 
to  look  upon  Plymouth  Rock,  the  old  state  house  at 
Philadelphia,  or  the  fields  of  Lexington  and  Concord. 

All  this  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  thought  that 
to  visit  Hellas  is  by  no  means  a  step  aside,  but  rather 
one  further  step  back  along  the  highway  traversed 
from  east  to  west  by  the  slow  course  of  empire,  and 
therefore  a  step  natural  and  proper  to  be  taken  by 
every  one  who  is  interested  in  the  history  of  civilized 
man,  the  better  to  understand  the  present  by  viewing 
it  in  the  light  of  the  past.  The  "  philhellene,"  as  the 
Greeks  call  their  friend  of  to-day,  needs  no  apologist, 
and  it  is  notable  that  the  number  of  such  philhellenes 
is  growing  annually. 


TRAVELING  IN   GREECE  7 

Time  was,  of  course,  when  the  visit  to  Greece  meant 
so  much  labor,  hardship,  and  expense  that  it  was 
made  by  few.  To-day  it  is  no  longer  so.  One  may  now 
visit  the  more  interesting  sites  of  the  Greek  penin- 
sula and  even  certain  of  the  islands  with  perfect  ease, 
at  no  greater  cost  in  money  or  eflfort  than  is  entailed 
by  any  other  Mediterranean  journey,  and  with  the 
added  satisfaction  that  one  sees  not  only  inspiring 
scenery,  but  hills  and  vales  peopled  with  a  thousand 
ghostly  memories  running  far  back  of  the  dawn  of 
history  and  losing  themselves  in  pagan  legend,  in 
the  misty  past  when  the  fabled  gods  of  high  Olympus 
strove,  intrigued,  loved,  and  ruled. 

The  natural  result  of  a  growing  appreciation  of  the 
attractions  of  Greece  is  an  increase  in  travel  thither, 
which  in  its  turn  has  begotten  increasing  excellence 
of  accommodation  at  those  points  where  visitors  most 
do  congregate.  Railroads  have  been  extended,  hotels 
have  multiplied  and  improved,  steamers  are  more 
frequent  and  more  comfortable.  One  need  no  longer 
be  deterred  by  any  fear  of  hardship  involved  in  such 
a  journey.  Athens  to-day  offers  hostelries  of  every 
grade,  as  does  Rome.  The  more  famous  towns  likely 
to  be  visited  can  show  very  creditable  inns  for  the 
wayfarer,  which  are  comfortable  enough,  especially 
to  one  inured  to  the  hill  towns  of  Italy  or  Sicily. 
Railway  coaches,  while  still  much  below  the  standard 


8    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

of  the  corridor  cars  of  the  more  western  nations,  are 
comfortable  enough  for  journeys  of  moderate  length, 
and  must  inevitably  improve  from  year  to  year  as 
the  hotels  have  done  already.  As  for  safety  of  person 
and  property,  that  ceased  to  be  a  problem  long  ago. 
Brigandage  has  been  unknown  in  the  Peloponnesus 
for  many  a  long  year.  Drunkenness  is  exceedingly 
rare,  and  begging  is  infinitely  more  uncommon  than 
in  most  Italian  provinces  and  cities.  Time  is  certain 
to  remove  the  objection  of  the  comparative  isolation 
of  Greece  still  more  than  it  has  done  at  this  writing, 
no  doubt.  It  is  still  true  that  Greece  is,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  an  island,  despite  its  physical  con- 
nection with  the  mainland  of  Europe.  The  northern 
mountains,  with  the  wild  and  semi-barbaric  inhab- 
itants thereamong,  serve  to  insulate  the  kingdom 
effectually  on  the  mainland  side,  just  as  the  ocean 
insulates  it  on  every  other  hand,  so  that  one  is  really 
more  out  of  the  world  at  Athens  than  in  Palermo. 
All  arrival  and  departure  is  by  sea ;  and  even  when 
Athens  shall  be  finally  connected  by  rail  with  Con- 
stantinople and  the  north,  the  bulk  of  communica- 
tion between  Greece  and  the  western  world  will  still 
be  chiefly  maritime,  and  still  subject,  as  now,  to  the 
delays  and  inconveniences  that  must  always  beset 
an  island  kingdom.  Daily  steamers,  an  ideal  not  yet 
attained,  will  be  the  one  effective  way  to  shorten  the 


TRAVELING   IN   GREECE  9 

distance  between  Hellas  and  Europe  proper  —  not  to 
mention  America. 

It  may  be  added  that  one  need  not  be  deterred 
from  a  tour  in  Greece  by  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
tongue,  any  more  than  one  need  allow  an  unfamil- 
iarity  with  Italian  to  debar  him  from  the  pleasures 
of  Italy.  The  essential  and  striking  difference  in  the 
case  is  the  distinctive  form  of  the  Greek  letters,  which 
naturally  tends  to  confuse  the  unaccustomed  visitor 
rather  more  than  do  Italian  words,  written  in  our 
own  familiar  alphabet.  Still,  even  one  quite  unfa- 
miliar with  the  Hellenic  text  may  visit  the  country 
with  comparatively  little  inconvenience  from  his  igno- 
rance, if  content  to  follow  the  frequented  routes,  since 
in  these  days  perfect  English  is  spoken  at  all  large 
hotels,  and  French  at  large  and  small  alike.  Indeed, 
the  prevalence  of  French  among  all  classes  is  likely 
to  surprise  one  at  first.  The  Greeks  are  excellent 
linguists,  and  many  a  man  or  woman  of  humble  sta- 
tion will  be  found  to  possess  a  fair  working  know- 
ledge of  the  Gallic  tongue.  It  is  entirely  probable  that 
in  a  few  more  years  the  effect  of  the  present  strong 
tendency  toward  emigration  to  America  will  reflect 
even  more  than  it  does  now  a  general  knowledge  of 
English  among  the  poorer  people.  I  have  frequently 
met  with  men  in  obscure  inland  towns  who  spoke 
English  well,  and  once  or  twice  discovered  that  they 


lo     GREECE  AND   THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

learned  it  in  my  own  city,  which  has  drawn  heavily 
on  the  population  of  the  Peloponnesus  within  recent 

years. 

If  the  traveler  is  fortunate  enough  to  have  studied 
ancient  Greek  in  his  school  and  college  days,  and  — 
what  is  more  rare  —  retains  enough  of  it  to  enable 
him  to  recognize  a  few  of  the  once  familiar  words,  he 
will  naturally  find  a  considerable  advantage  therein. 
It  is  often  stated  that  Greek  has  changed  less  since 
Agamemnon's  time  than  English  has  altered  since 
the  days  of  Chaucer ;  and  while  this  generalization 
may  not  be  strictly  true,  it  is  very  near  the  fact,  so 
that  it  is  still  possible  for  any  student  well  versed  in 
the  ancient  Greek  to  read  a  modern  Athenian  news- 
paper with  considerable  ease.  The  pronunciation, 
however,  is  vastly  different  from  the  systems  taught 
in  England  and  in  America,  so  that  even  a  good 
classical  student  requires  long  practice  to  deliver  his 
Greek  trippingly  on  the  tongue  in  such  wise  that  the 
modern  Athenian  can  understand  it.  Grammatically 
speaking,  Greek  is  to-day  vastly  simpler  than  it  was 
in  the  days  of  Plato.  It  has  been  shorn  of  many  of 
those  fine  distinctions  that  were,  and  are,  such  ter- 
rors to  the  American  schoolboy.  But  the  appearance 
of  the  letters  and  words,  with  their  breathings  and 
accents,  is  quite  unchanged,  and  many  of  the  ancient 
words  are  perfectly  good  in  modern  Greek  with  their 


TRAVELING   IN   GREECE  ii 

old  meanings  unimpaired.  When  one  has  mastered 
the  modern  pronunciation,  even  to  a  very  moderate 
degree,  one  is  sure  to  find  that  the  once  despised 
"dead  language  "  is  not  a  dead  language  at  all,  but 
one  in  daily  use  by  a  nation  of  people  who  may  claim 
with  truth  that  they  speak  a  speech  as  old  as  Aga- 
memnon and  far  more  homogeneous  in  its  descent 
than  modern  Italian  as  it  comes  from  the  Latin. 

It  cannot  be  disguised,  however,  that  it  is  very 
desirable  at  least  to  know  the  Greek  alphabet,  even 
if  one  does  not  speak  or  read  the  language,  since 
this  little  knowledge  will  often  serve  to  give  one  a 
clue  to  the  names  of  streets  or  railroad  stations. 
Aside  from  that,  the  few  words  the  habitual  traveler 
always  picks  up  will  serve  as  well  in  Greece  as  any- 
where. One  should  know,  of  course,  the  colloquial 
forms  of  asking  "how  much?"  and  for  saying  "It 
is  too  dear."  These  are  the  primal  necessities  of 
European  travel,  always  and  everywhere.  With  these 
alone  as  equipment,  one  may  go  almost  anywhere 
on  earth.  In  addition  to  these  rudimentary  essentials, 
the  ever-versatile  Baedeker  supplies,  I  believe,  phrases 
of  a  simple  kind,  devised  for  every  possible  contin- 
gency, remote  or  otherwise,  which  might  beset  the 
traveler — omitting,  curiously  enough,  the  highly  use- 
ful expression  for  hot  water,  which  the  traveler  will 
speedily  discover  is  "zesto  nero."  Among  the  con- 


12     GREECE  AND   THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

veniences,  though  not  essential,  might  be  included  a 
smattering  of  knowledge  of  the  Greek  numerals  to 
be  used  in  bargaining  with  merchants  and  cab-drivers. 
But  since  the  Greek  merchant,  for  reasons  which 
will  later  appear,  is  never  without  his  pad  and  pen- 
cil, and  since  the  written  figures  are  the  same  as  our 
own,  the  custom  is  to  conduct  bargains  with  Euro- 
peans generally  by  written  symbols.  The  inevitable 
haggling  over  prices  in  the  small  shops  requires  little 
more  than  the  sign  manual,  plus  a  determination  to 
seem  indifferent  at  all  hazards.  The  Greek  merchant, 
like  every  other,  regards  the  voyager  from  foreign 
parts  as  legitimate  prey,  and  long  experience  has  led 
him  to  expect  his  price  to  be  questioned.  Hence 
nothing  would  surprise  a  small  dealer  more  than  to 
be  taken  at  his  initial  figure,  and  the  process  of  ar- 
riving at  some  middle  ground  remotely  resembling 
reasonableness  is  often  a  complicated  but  perfectly 
good-humored  affair. 

The  cab-drivers  present  rather  more  difficulty. 
They  seldom  speak  French  and  they  carry  no  writing 
pads.  The  result  is  a  frequent  misunderstanding  as 
to  both  price  and  destination,  while  in  the  settlement 
of  all  differences  at  the  close  of  the  "course"  both 
cabby  and  his  fare  are  evidently  at  a  mutual  linguis- 
tic disadvantage.  The  trouble  over  the  destination 
is  twofold,  as  a  rule.    Part  of  the  time  the  cabman 


TRAVELING   IN   GREECE  13 

is  "green"  and  not  well  acquainted  with  the  city; 
and  part  of  the  time  he  is  wholly  unable  to  recog- 
nize, in  the  name  pronounced  to  him,  any  sugges- 
tion of  a  street  he  may  know  perfectly  well  when 
pronounced  with  the  proper  accent.  The  element  of 
accent  is  highly  important  in  speaking  Greek ;  for 
unless  the  stress  is  properly  laid,  a  word  will  often 
elude  entirely  the  comprehension  of  the  native,  al- 
though every  syllable  be  otherwise  correctly  sounded. 
The  names  of  the  Greek  streets  are  all  in  the  geni- 
tive case,  which  makes  the  matter  still  worse.  It  is  of 
small  avail  to  say  "  Hermes  Street"  to  a  driver.  He 
must  have  the  Greek  for  "  Street  of  Hermes  "  in  order 
to  get  the  idea  clearly  in  mind.  It  is  not  safe  to  gener- 
alize, but  I  incline  to  rate  the  Greeks  as  rather  slower 
than  Italians  at  grasping  a  foreigner's  meaning,  de- 
spite their  cleverness  and  quickness  at  acquiring  other 
languages  themselves.  However,  this  is  getting  con- 
siderably ahead  of  our  narrative  and  in  danger  of 
losing  sight  of  the  main  point,  which  is  that  Greece 
is  easy  enough  to  visit  and  enjoy,  even  if  one  is  igno- 
rant of  the  language.  For  those  who  feel  safer  to 
know  a  trifle  of  it,  there  is  ample  time  on  the  steamer 
voyage  toward  the  Grecian  goal  to  acquire  all  that 
ordinary  necessities  demand. 

Let  it  be  said,  in  passing  from  these  general  and 
preliminary  remarks  to  a  more  detailed  discussion  of 


14     GREECE  AND   THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

Hellenic  travel,  that  the  modern  Greek  has  lost  none 
of  his  ancient  prototype's  reverence  for  the  guest  as 
a  person  having  the  highest  claims  upon  him  and 
none  of  the  ancient  regard  for  the  sacred  name  of 
hospitality.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  modern 
Greek  character,  it  cannot  be  called  in  question  as 
lacking  in  cordiality  and  kindness  to  the  stranger. 
The  most  unselfish  entertainer  in  the  world  is  the 
Greek,  who  conceives  the  idea  that  he  may  be  able  to 
add  to  your  happiness  by  his  courtesy,  and  this  is  true 
in  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  city.  The  native  met 
on  the  highway  has  always  a  salutation  for  you.  If 
it  is  the  season  for  harvesting  grapes,  you  are  wel- 
come to  taste  and  see  that  they  are  good.  He  will 
welcome  you  to  his  house  and  set  before  you  the 
best  it  affords,  the  sweet  "sumadha"  or  almond 
milk,  the  rich  preserved  quince,  the  glass  of  pungent 
"mastika,"  or  perhaps  a  bit  of  smoke-cured  ham 
from  the  earthen  jar  which  is  kept  for  just  such  occa- 
sions as  this.  If  he  sets  out  to  entertain,  nothing  is 
done  by  halves.  The  Greek  bearing  gifts  need  cause 
no  fear  to-day,  unless  it  be  a  fear  of  superabundant 
hospitality  such  as  admits  of  no  repayment.  He  will 
drive  a  hard  bargain  with  you  in  business,  no  doubt. 
Occasionally  an  unscrupulous  native  will  commit  a 
petty  theft,  as  in  any  other  country  where  only  man 
is  vile.  But  once  appear  to  him  in  the  guise  of  friend- 


TRAVELING  IN   GREECE  15 

ship  and  he  will  prove  himself  the  most  obliging 
creature  in  the  world.  He  may  not  be  as  well  aware 
of  the  general  history  of  his  remote  ancestors  as  you 
are  yourself,  but  what  he  does  know  about  his  vicin- 
ity he  will  relate  to  you  with  pride  and  explicitness. 
Curiously  enough,  the  Greek  in  ordinary  station  is 
likely  to  think  you  wish  to  see  modern  rather  than 
ancient  things.  He  cannot  understand  why  you  go 
every  evening  to  the  Acropolis  and  muse  on  the  steps 
of  the  Parthenon  while  you  omit  to  visit  the  villas 
of  Kephissia  or  Tatoi's.  He  would  rather  show  you 
a  tawdry  pseudo-Byzantine  church  than  a  ruined 
temple.  But  the  cordial  spirit  is  there,  and  everybody 
who  ever  visited  Greece  has  had  occasion  to  know 
it  and  admire  it. 

There  remains  necessary  a  word  as  to  the  choice 
of  routes  to  Greece.  As  in  the  case  of  Venice,  one 
may  enter  by  either  the  front  or  the  back  door,  so  to 
speak ;  and  probably,  as  in  the  case  of  Venice,  more 
actually  elect  to  enter  by  the  rear.  The  two  gateways 
of  Hellas  are  the  Piraeus  at  the  eastern  front,  and 
Patras  at  the  back.  Either  may  be  selected  as  the 
point  for  beginning  a  land  journey  in  the  kingdom, 
and  each  has  certain  advantages.  In  any  event  the 
visitor  should  enter  by  one  portal  and  leave  by  the 
other,  and  the  direction  may  safely  be  left  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  convenience  and  aims  of  each  particular 


i6    GREECE  AND   THE  ^GEAN   ISLANDS 

visitor's  case.  Taking  Naples  as  the  natural  start- 
ing-point of  American  travelers,  two  routes  lie  open. 
One  is  the  railroad  to  Brindisi,  traversing  the  moun- 
tainous Italian  interior  to  the  Adriatic  coast,  where 
on  stated  days  very  comfortable  steamers  ply  be- 
tween Brindisi  and  Patras,  touching  at  Corfu.  The 
other  route  is  from  Naples  to  the  Piraeus  by  sea  on 
either  French  or  Italian  steamers,  the  latter  lines 
being  slower  and  enabling  stops  in  Sicily  and  in 
Crete.  To  those  fortunately  possessed  of  ample  time 
and  willing  to  see  something  of  Magna  Graecia  as 
well  as  of  Greece  proper,  the  slower  route  is  decid- 
edly to  be  recommended. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  book  let  us  choose  to  enter 
Greece  by  her  imposing  main  portal  of  the  Piraeus, 
setting  at  naught  several  considerations  which  in- 
cline us  to  believe  that,  on  the  whole,  the  advantage 
lies  rather  with  the  contrary  choice.  Whatever  else 
may  be  said  in  favor  of  either  selection,  it  remains 
true  that  in  any  case  one  immediately  encounters 
mythology  and  legend  in  the  shape  of  the  wily 
Ulysses,  and  is  thus  at  once  en  rapport  with  Grecian 
things.  The  steamers  from  Naples  must  sail  through 
the  Strait  of  Messina,  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis, 
once  the  terror  of  those  mariners  who  had  the  expe- 
riences of  Homer's  wandering  hero  before  their  eyes  ; 
while  not  far  below  Charybdis  and  just  off  the  Sicil- 


TRAVELING  IN  GREECE  17 

ian  shore  they  still  show  the  wondering  traveler  a 
number  of  small  rocks,  rising  abruptly  from  the 
ocean,  as  the  very  stones  that  Polyphemus  hurled 
in  his  blind  rage  after  the  fleeing  Odysseus,  but 
fortunately  without  doing  him  any  harm.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  we  sail  from  Brindisi  to  Patras,  we  must 
pass  Corfu,  which  as  all  the  world  knows  was  the 
island  on  which  Odysseus  was  cast  from  his  ship  and 
where,  after  he  had  refreshed  himself  with  sleep,  he 
was  awakened  by  the  laughter  of  Nausicaa  and  her 
maids  as  they  played  at  ball  after  the  washing  was 
done.  Whichever  way  we  go,  we  soon  find  that  we 
have  run  into  a  land  older  than  those  with  which  we 
have  been  familiar,  whose  legends  greet  us  even  at 
this  distance  over  miles  of  tossing  waves.  Let  those 
who  are  content  to  voyage  with  us  through  the  pages 
that  follow,  be  content  to  reserve  Corfu  for  the  home- 
ward journey,  and  to  assume  that  our  prow  is  headed 
now  toward  Crete,  through  a  tossing  sea  such  as  led 
the  ancients  to  exclaim,  "The  Cretan  sea  is  wide!" 
The  shadowy  mountains  on  the  left  are  the  lofty 
southern  prongs  of  the  Grecian  peninsula.  Ahead, 
and  not  yet  visible  above  the  horizon,  is  the  sharp, 
razor-like  edge  of  Crete,  and  the  dawn  should  find 
us  in  harbor  at  Canea. 


CHAPTER   II.     CRETE 


THE  island  of  Crete,  lying  like  a  long,  narrow 
bar  across  the  mouth  of  the  ^gean  Sea,  pre- 
sents a  mountainous  and  rugged  appearance  to  one 
approaching  from  any  side.  Possessing  an  extreme 
length  of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  it  is 
nowhere  more  than  thirty-five  miles  in  width,  and  in 
places  much  less  than  that.  A  lofty  backbone  of 
mountain  runs  through  it  from  end  to  end.  In  all  its 
coast-line  few  decent  harbors  are  to  be  found,  and 
that  of  the  thriving  city  of  Canea,  near  the  north- 
western end  of  the  island,  is  no  exception.  In  ancient 
times  the  fortifications  and  moles  that  were  built  to 
protect  the  ports  had  in  view  the  small  sailing  vessels 
of  light  draught  which  were  then  common,  and  to- 
day it  is  necessary  for  steamers  of  any  size  to  anchor 
in  the  practically  open  roadsteads  outside  the  harbor 
proper.  Needless  to  say,  landing  in  small  boats  from 
a  vessel  stationed  at  this  considerable  distance  out- 
side the  breakwater  is  a  matter  largely  dependent 


CRETE  19 

on  the  wind  and  weather,  not  only  at  Canea,  with 
which  we  are  at  present  concerned,  but  at  Candia,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  later.  In  a  north  wind,  such  as 
frequently  blows  for  days  together,  a  landing  on  the 
northern  coast  is  often  quite  impossible,  and  steam- 
ers have  been  known  to  lie  for  days  off  the  island 
waiting  a  chance  to  approach  and  discharge.  This 
contretemps,  however,  is  less  to  be  feared  at  Canea 
because  of  the  proximity  of  the  excellent  though 
isolated  Suda  Bay,  which  is  landlocked  and  deep, 
affording  quiet  water  in  any  weather,  but  presenting 
the  drawback  that  it  is  about  four  miles  from  the  city 
of  Canea,  devoid  of  docks  and  surrounded  by  flat 
marshes.  Nevertheless,  steamers  finding  the  weather 
too  rough  off  the  port  do  proceed  thither  on  occasion 
and  transact  their  business  there,  though  with  some 
difficulty.  The  resort  to  Suda,  however,  is  seldom 
made  save  in  exceedingly  rough  weather,  for  the 
stout  shore  boats  of  the  Cretans  are  capable  of  brav- 
ing very  considerable  waves  and  landing  passengers 
and  freight  before  the  city  itself  in  a  fairly  stiff  north- 
west gale,  as  our  own  experience  in  several  Cretan 
landings  has  proven  abundantly.  It  is  not  a  trip  to 
be  recommended  to  the  timorous,  however,  when  the 
sea  is  high ;  for  although  it  is  probably  not  as  dan- 
gerous as  it  looks,  the  row  across  the  open  water 
between  steamer  and  harbor  is  certainly  rather  terri- 


20    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

fying  in  appearance,  as  the  boats  rise  and  fall,  now 
in  sight  of  each  other  on  the  crest  of  the  waves, 
now  disappearing  for  what  seem  interminable  inter- 
vals in  the  valleys  of  water  between  what  look  like 
mountains  of  wave  tossing  angrily  on  all  sides.  The 
boatmen  are  skillful  and  comparatively  few  seas  are 
shipped,  but  even  so  it  is  a  passage  likely  to  be 
dampening  to  the  ardor  in  more  ways  than  one.  On 
a  calm  day,  when  the  wind  is  light  or  offshore,  there 
is  naturally  no  trouble,  and  the  boatmen  have  never 
seemed  to  me  rapacious  or  insolent,  but  quite  ready 
to  abide  by  the  very  reasonable  tariff  charge  for  the 
round  trip.  In  bad  weather,  as  is  not  unnatural,  it  often 
happens  that  the  men  request  a  gratuity  over  and 
above  the  established  franc-and-a-half  rate,  on  the 
plea  that  the  trip  has  been  "molto  cattivo  "  and  the 
labor  consequentl)'  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  tariff 
charge  —  which  is  true.  It  is  no  light  task  for  three 
or  four  stout  natives  to  row  a  heavy  boat  containing 
eight  people  over  such  a  sea  as  often  is  to  be  found 
running  off  Canea,  fighting  for  every  foot  of  advance, 
and  easing  off  now  and  then  to  put  the  boat  head  up 
to  an  unusually  menacing  comber. 

The  landing  at  Canea,  if  the  weather  permits  land- 
ing at  all,  is  on  a  long  curving  stone  quay,  lined 
with  picturesque  buildings,  including  a  mosque  with 
its  minaret,  the  latter  testifying  to  the  considerable 


LAXDI^G-PLACE  AT  CANEA 


CRETE  21 

residuum  of  Turkish  and  Mohammedan  population 
that  remains  in  this  polyglot  island,  despite  its  pre- 
sent Greek  rule  under  the  oversight  of  the  Christian 
powers  of  Europe.  The  houses  along  the  quay  are 
mostly  a  grayish  white,  with  the  light  green  shutters 
one  learns  to  associate  with  similar  towns  everywhere 
in  the  ^gean.  Behind  the  town  at  no  very  great 
distance  may  be  seen  rising  lofty  and  forbidding 
mountains,  snowcapped  down  to  early  May ;  but  a 
brief  ride  out  from  the  city  to  Suda  Bay  will  serve  to 
reveal  some  fertile  and  open  valleys  such  as  save 
Crete  from  being  a  barren  and  utterly  uninviting 
land.  The  ordinary  stop  of  an  Italian  steamer  at  this 
port  is  something  like  six  or  eight  hours,  which  is 
amply  sufficient  to  give  a  very  good  idea  of  Canea 
and  its  immediate  neighborhood.  The  time  is  enough 
for  a  walk  through  the  tortuous  and  narrow  high- 
ways and  byways  of  the  city  —  walks  in  which  one 
is  attended  by  a  crowd  of  small  boys  from  the  start, 
and  indeed  by  large  boys  as  well,  all  most  persist- 
ently offering  their  most  unnecessary  guidance  in 
the  hope  of  receiving  "backsheesh,"  which  truly  Ori- 
ental word  is  to  be  heard  at  every  turn,  and  affords 
one  more  enduring  local  monument  to  the  former 
rule  of  the  unspeakable  Turk.  These  lads  apparently 
speak  a  smattering  of  every  known  language,  and 
are  as  quick  and  alert  as  the  New  York  or  Naples 


22     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

gamin.  Incidentally,  I  wonder  if  every  other  visitor 
to  Canea  is  afflicted  with  "  Mustapha"  ?  On  our  last 
landing  there  we  were  told,  as  we  went  over  the  side 
of  the  steamer  to  brave  the  tempestuous  journey 
ashore  in  the  boat  which  bobbed  below,  to  be  sure 
to  look  for  "  Mustapha."  The  captain  always  recom- 
mended Mustapha,  he  said,  and  no  Americano  that 
ever  enlisted  the  services  of  Mustapha  as  guide,  phi- 
losopher, and  friend  for  four  Canean  hours  had  ever 
regretted  it.  So  we  began  diligent  inquiry  of  the 
boatman  if  he  knew  this  Mustapha.  Yes,  he  did  — 
and  who  better?  Was  he  not  Mustapha  himself,  in 
his  own  proper  person?  Inwardly  congratulating 
ourselves  at  finding  the  indispensable  with  such  re- 
markable promptitude,  we  soon  gained  the  harbor, 
and  the  subsequent  landing  at  the  quay  was  assisted 
in  by  at  least  forty  hardy  Caneans,  including  one 
bullet-headed  Nubian,  seven  shades  darker  than 
a  particularly  black  ace  of  clubs,  who  exhibited  a 
mouthful  of  ivory  and  proclaimed  himself,  unsoli- 
cited, as  the  true  and  only  Mustapha,  —  a  declaration 
that  caused  an  instant  and  spontaneous  howl  of  de- 
rision from  sundry  other  bystanders,  who  promptly 
filed  their  claims  to  that  Oriental  name  and  all  the 
excellences  that  it  implied.  Apparently  Mustapha's 
other  name  was  Legion.  Search  for  him  was  aban- 
doned on  the  spot,  and  I  would   advise  any  sub- 


CRETE  23 

sequent  traveler  to  do  the  same.  Search  is  quite 
unnecessary.  Wherever  two  or  three  Caneans  are 
gathered  together,  there  is  Mustapha  in  the  midst  of 
them,  —  and  perhaps  two  or  three  of  him. 

It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  get  rid  of  the  Canean 
urchins  who  follow  you  away  from  the  landing-place 
and  into  the  quaint  and  narrow  streets  of  the  town. 
By  deploying  your  landing  party,  which  is  generally 
sufficiently  numerous  for  the  purpose,  in  blocks  of 
three  or  four,  the  convoy  of  youth  may  be  split  into 
detachments  and  destroyed  in  detail.  It  may  be  an 
inexpensive  and  rather  entertaining  luxury  to  permit 
the  brightest  lad  of  the  lot  to  go  along,  although, 
as  has  been  intimated,  guidance  is  about  the  last 
thing  needed  in  Canea.  The  streets  are  very  narrow, 
very  crooked,  and  not  over  clean,  and  are  lined  with 
houses  having  those  projecting  basket  work  windows 
overhead,  such  as  are  common  enough  in  every 
Turkish  or  semi-Turkish  city.  Many  of  the  women 
go  heavily  veiled,  sometimes  showing  the  upper  face 
and  sometimes  not  even  that,  giving  an  additional 
Oriental  touch  to  the  street  scenes.  This  veiling  is  in 
part  a  survival  of  Turkish  usages,  and  in  part  is  due 
to  the  dust  and  glare.  It  is  a  practice  to  be  met  with 
in  many  other  ^gean  islands  as  well  as  in  Crete. 
It  is  this  perpetual  recurrence  of  Mohammedan 
touches  that  prevents  Canea  from  seeming  typically 


24     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Greek,  despite  its  nominal  allegiance.  To  all  outward 
seeming  it  is  Turkish  still,  and  mosques  and  min- 
arets rise  above  its  roofs  in  more  than  one  spot  as 
one  surveys  it  from  the  harbor  or  from  the  hills.  The 
streets  with  their  narrow  alleys  and  overshadowing 
archways  are  tempting  indeed  to  the  camera,  and  it 
may  as  well  be  said  once  and  for  all  that  it  is  a  grave 
mistake  to  visit  Greece  and  the  adjacent  lands  with- 
out that  harmless  instrument  of  retrospective  pleasure. 
As  for  sights,  Canea  must  be  confessed  to  offer 
none  that  are  of  the  traditional  kind,  "  double-starred 
in  Baedeker."  There  is  no  museum  there,  and  no 
ruins.  The  hills  are  too  far  away  to  permit  an  ascent 
for  a  view.  The  palace  of  the  Greek  royal  commis- 
sioner. Prince  George,  offers  slight  attraction  to  the 
visitor  compared  with  the  scenes  of  the  streets  and 
squares  in  the  town  itself,  the  coffee-houses,  and 
above  all  the  curious  shops.  Canea  is  no  mean  place 
for  the  curio  hunter  with  an  eye  to  handsome,  though 
barbaric,  blankets,  saddle-bags,  and  the  like.  The 
bizarre  effect  of  the  scene  is  increased  by  the  mani- 
fold racial  characteristics  of  face,  figure,  and  dress 
that  one  may  observe  there ;  men  and  women 
quaintly  garbed  in  the  peasant  dress  of  half  a  dozen 
different  nations.  In  a  corner,  sheltered  from  the  heat 
or  from  the  wind,  as  the  case  may  be,  sit  knots  of 
weazen  old  men,  cloaks  wrapped  about  their  shoul- 


CRETE  25 

ders,  either  drinking  their  muddy  coffee  or  plying 
some  trifling  trade  while  they  gossip,  —  doubtless 
about  the  changed  times.  From  a  neighboring  coffee- 
house there  will  be  heard  to  trickle  a  wild  and  bar- 
baric melody  tortured  out  of  a  long-suffering  fiddle 
that  cannot,  by  any  stretch  of  euphemism,  be  called 
a  violin ;  or  men  may  be  seen  dancing  in  a  sedate 
and  solemn  circle,  arms  spread  on  each  other's  shoul- 
ders in  the  Greek  fashion,  to  the  minor  cadences  of 
the  plaintive  "  bouzouki,"  or  Greek  guitar.  There  are 
shops  of  every  kind,  retailing  chiefly  queer  woolen 
bags,  or  shoes  of  soft,  white  skins,  or  sweetmeats  of 
the  Greek  and  Turkish  fashion.  Here  it  is  possible 
for  the  first  time  to  become  acquainted  with  the  cele- 
brated "loukoumi"  of  Syra,  a  soft  paste  made  of 
gums,  rosewater,  and  flavoring  extracts,  with  an  ad- 
dition of  chopped  nuts,  each  block  of  the  candy  rolled 
in  soft  sugar.  It  is  much  esteemed  by  the  Greeks, 
who  are  notorious  lovers  of  sweetmeats,  and  it  is 
imitated  and  grossly  libeled  in  America  under  the 
alias  of  "  Turkish  Delight." 

From  Canea  a  very  good  road  leads  out  over  a 
gently  rolling  country  to  Suda  Bay.  Little  is  to  be 
seen  there,  however,  save  a  very  lovely  prospect  of 
hill  and  vale,  and  a  few  warships  of  various  nations 
lying  at  anchor,  representing  the  four  or  five  jealous 
powers  who  maintain   a  constant  watch    over  the 


26     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

destinies  of  this  troublous  isle.  The  cosmopolitan 
character  of  these  naval  visitants  is  abundantly  testi- 
fied to  by  the  signs  that  one  may  see  along  the  high- 
road near  Suda,  ringing  all  possible  linguistic  changes 
on  legends  that  indicate  facilities  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  Jack  ashore,  and  capable  of  being  summed 
up  in  the  single  phrase,  "Army  and  Navy  Bar."  The 
Greeks  were  ever  a  hospitable  race. 

The  road  to  Suda,  however,  is  far  from  being  lined 
by  nothing  more  lovely  than  these  decrepit  wine 
shops  for  the  audacious  tar.  The  three  or  four  miles 
of  its  length  lie  through  fertile  fields  devoted  to  olive 
orchards  and  to  the  cultivation  of  grain,  and  one 
would  look  far  for  a  more  picturesque  sight  than 
the  Cretan  farmer  driving  his  jocund  team  afield  — 
a  team  of  large  oxen  attached  to  a  primitive  plow 
—  or  wielding  his  cumbersome  hoe  in  turning  up  the 
sod  under  his  own  vine  and  olive  trees.  It  is  a  pleas- 
ing and  pastoral  spectacle.  The  ride  out  to  Suda  is 
easily  made  while  the  steamer  waits,  in  a  very  com- 
fortable carriage  procurable  in  the  public  square  for 
a  moderate  sum.  It  may  be  as  well  to  remark,  how- 
ever, that  carriages  in  Greece  are  not,  as  a  rule, 
anywhere  nearly  as  cheap  as  in  Italy. 

It  is  a  long  jump  from  Canea  to  Candia,  the  sec- 
ond city  of  the  island,  situated  many  miles  farther  to 
the  east  along  this  northern  shore.  But  it  easily  sur- 


CRETE  27 

passes  Canea  in  classic  interest,  being  the  site  of  the 
traditional  ruler  of  Crete  in  the  most  ancient  times, 
—  King  Minos,  —  of  whom  we  shall  have  much  to 
say.  Candia,  as  we  shall  call  it,  although  its  local 
name  is  Megalokastron,  is  not  touched  by  any.  of 
the  steamers  en  route  from  the  west  to  Athens,  but 
must  be  visited  in  connection  with  a  cruise  among 
the  islands  of  the  ^gean.  From  the  sea  it  resembles 
Canea  in  nature  as  well  as  in  name.  It  shows  the 
same  harbor  fortifications  of  Venetian  build,  and 
bears  the  same  lion  of  St.  Mark.  It  possesses  the 
same  lack  of  harborage  for  vessels  other  than  small 
sailing  craft.  Its  water  front  is  lined  with  white  houses 
with  green  blinds,  and  slender  white  minarets  stand 
loftily  above  the  roofs.  Its  streets  and  squares  are 
much  like  Canea's,  too,  although  they  are  rather 
broader  and  more  modern  in  appearance ;  while  the 
crowds  of  people  in  the  streets  present  a  similar  array 
of  racial  types  to  that  already  referred  to  in  describ- 
ing the  former  city.  More  handsome  men  are  to  be 
seen,  splendid  specimens  of  humanity  clad  in  the 
blue  baggy  trousers  and  jackets  of  Turkish  cut,  and 
wearing  the  fez.  Candia  is  well  walled  by  a  very 
thick  and  lofty  fortification  erected  in  Venetian  times, 
and  lies  at  the  opening  of  a  broad  valley  stretching 
across  the  island  to  the  south,  and  by  its  topography 
and  central  situation  was  the  natural  theatre  of  ac- 


28    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

tivity  in  the  distant  period  with  which  we  are  about 
to  make  our  first  acquaintance.  Even  without  leaving 
the  city  one  may  get  some  idea  of  the  vast  antiquity 
of  some  of  its  relics  by  a  visit  to  the  museum  located 
in  an  old  Venetian  palace  in  the  heart  of  the  town, 
where  are  to  be  seen  the  finds  of  various  excavators 
who  have  labored  in  the  island.  Most  of  these  belong 
to  a  very  remote  past,  antedating  vastly  the  Myce- 
naean period,  which  used  to  seem  so  old,  with  its  tra- 
ditions of  Agamemnon  and  the  sack  of  Troy.  Here 
we  encounter  relics  of  monarchs  who  lived  before 
Troy  was  made  famous,  and  the  English  excavator, 
Evans,  who  has  exhumed  the  palace  of  Minos  not 
far  outside  the  city  gates,  has  classified  the  articles 
displayed  as  of  the  "  Minoan  "  period.  It  would  be 
idle  in  this  place  to  attempt  any  detailed  explanation 
of  the  subdivisions  of  "  early,"  "  middle,"  and  "  late 
Minoan  "  which  have  been  appended  to  the  manifold 
relics  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  collection,  or  to  give 
any  detailed  description  of  them.  It  must  suffice  to 
say  that  the  period  represented  is  so  early  that  any 
attempt  to  affix  dates  must  be  conjectural,  and  that 
we  may  safely  take  it  in  general  terms  as  a  period  so 
far  preceding  the  dawn  of  recorded  history  that  it 
was  largely  legendary  even  in  the  time  of  the  classic 
Greeks,  who  already  regarded  Minos  himself  as  a 
demi-god  and  sort  of  immortal  judge  in  the  realm 


CRETE  29 

of  the  shades.  The  museum,  with  its  hundreds  of 
quaint  old  vases,  rudely  ornamented  in  geometric 
patterns,  its  fantastic  and  faded  mural  paintings,  its 
sarcophagi,  its  implements  of  toil,  and  all  the  mani- 
fold testimony  to  a  civilization  so  remote  that  it  is 
overwhelming  to  the  mind,  will  serve  to  hold  the 
visitor  long.  Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  among 
these  relics  from  Cnossos,  Phaestos,  and  Gortyn,  are 
many  contributed  by  the  industry  and  energy  of  the 
American  investigator,  Mrs.  Hawes  {iiee  Boyd),  whose 
work  in  Crete  has  been  of  great  value  and  archaeo- 
logical interest. 

Having  whetted  one's  appetite  for  the  remotely 
antique  by  browsing  through  this  collection  of  trea- 
sures, one  is  ready  enough  to  make  the  journey  out 
to  Cnossos,  the  site  of  the  ancient  palace,  only  four 
miles  away.  There  is  a  good  road,  and  it  is  possible 
to  walk  if  desired,  although  it  is  about  as  hot  and 
uninteresting  a  walk  as  can  well  be  imagined.  It  is 
easier  and  better  to  ride,  although  the  Cretan  drivers 
in  general,  and  the  Candian  ones  in  particular,  enjoy 
the  reputation  of  being  about  the  most  rapacious  in 
the  civilized  world.  On  the  way  out  to  the  palace  at 
Cnossos,  the  road  winds  through  a  rolling  country, 
and  crosses  repeatedly  an  old  paved  Turkish  road, 
which  must  have  been  much  less  agreeable  than 
the  present  one  to  traverse.  On  the  right,  far  away  to 


30     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  southwest,  rises  the  peak  which  is  supposed  to  be 
the  birthplace  of  Zeus,  the  slopes  of  Mt.  Ida.  Crete 
is  the  land  most  sacred  to  Zeus  of  all  the  lands  of  the 
ancient  world.  Here  his  mother  bore  him,  having  fled 
thither  to  escape  the  wrath  of  her  husband,  the  god 
Cronos,  who  had  formed  the  unbecoming  habit  of 
swallowing  his  progeny  as  soon  as  they  were  born. 
Having  been  duly  delivered  of  the  child  Zeus,  his 
mother,  Rhaea,  wrapped  up  a  stone  in  some  cloth 
and  presented  it  to  Cronos,  who  swallowed  it,  per- 
suaded that  he  had  once  more  ridded  the  world  of 
the  son  it  was  predicted  should  oust  him  from  his 
godlike  dignities  and  power.  But  Rhsea  concealed 
the  real  Zeus  in  a  cave  on  Ida,  and  when  he  came  to 
maturity  he  made  war  on  Cronos  and  deprived  him 
of  his  dominion.  Hence  Zeus,  whose  worship  in  Crete 
soon  spread  to  other  islands  and  mainland,  was  held 
in  highest  esteem  in  the  isle  of  his  birth,  and  his  cult 
had  for  its  symbol  the  double-headed  axe,  which  we 
find  on  so  many  of  the  relics  of  the  Candia  museum 
and  on  the  walls  of  the  ancient  palaces,  like  that  we 
are  on  the  way  to  visit  at  Cnossos. 

It  is  necessary  to  remark  that  there  were  two  char- 
acters named  Minos  in  the  ancient  mythology.  The 
original  of  the  name  was  the  child  of  Zeus  and 
Europa,  and  he  ruled  over  Crete,  where  Saturn  is 
supposed  to  have  governed  before  him,  proving  a 


CRETE  31 

wise  law-giver  for  the  people.  The  other  Minos  was 
a  grandson  of  the  first,  child  of  Lycastos  and  Ida. 
This  Minos  later  grew  up  and  married  Pasiphae, 
whose  unnatural  passion  begot  the  Minotaur,  or  sav- 
age bull  with  the  body  of  a  man  and  an  appetite  for 
human  flesh.  To  house  this  monster  Minos  was  com- 
pelled to  build  the  celebrated  labyrinth,  and  he  fed 
the  bull  with  condemned  criminals,  who  were  sent 
into  the  mazes  of  the  labyrinth  never  to  return.  Still 
later,  taking  oflfense  at  the  Athenians  because  in 
their  Panathenaic  games  they  had  killed  his  own 
son,  Minos  sent  an  expedition  against  them,  defeated 
them,  and  thereafter  levied  an  annual  tribute  of  seven 
boys  and  seven  girls  upon  the  inhabitants,  who  were 
taken  to  Crete  and  fed  to  the  Minotaur.  This  cruel 
exaction  continued  until  Theseus  came  to  Crete  and, 
with  the  aid  of  the  thread  furnished  him  by  Ariadne, 
tracked  his  way  into  the  labyrinth,  slaughtered  the 
monster  and  returned  alive  to  the  light  of  day.  Of 
course  such  a  network  of  myths,  if  it  does  nothing 
else,  argues  the  great  antiquity  of  the  Minoan  period, 
to  which  the  ruins  around  Candia  are  supposed  to 
belong,  and  they  naturally  lead  us  to  an  inquiry 
whether  any  labyrinth  was  ever  found  or  supposed 
to  be  found  in  the  vicinity.  I  believe  there  actually 
is  an  extensive  artificial  cave  in  the  mountains  south 
of  Cnossos,  doubtless  an  ancient  subterranean  quarry, 


32     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

which  is  called  "the  labyrinth"  to-day,  though  it 
doubtless  never  sheltered  the  Minotaur.  It  is  suffi- 
ciently large  to  have  served  once  as  the  abode  of 
several  hundred  persons  during  times  of  revolution, 
they  living  there  in  comparative  comfort  save  for  the 
lack  of  light ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  they 
employed  Ariadne's  device  of  the  thread  to  keep 
them  in  touch  with  the  passage  out  of  their  self- 
imposed  prison  when  the  political  atmosphere  cleared 
and  it  was  safe  to  venture  forth  into  the  light  of  day. 
It  seems  rather  more  probable  that  the  myth  or  legend 
of  the  labyrinth  of  Minos  had  its  origin  in  the  laby- 
rinthine character  of  the  king's  own  palace,  as  it  is 
now  shown  to  have  been  a  perfect  maze  of  corridors 
and  rooms,  through  which  it  is  possible  to  wander 
at  will,  since  the  excavators  have  laid  them  open 
after  the  lapse  of  many  centuries.  A  glance  at  the 
plans  of  the  Cnossos  palace  in  the  guide-books,  or  a 
survey  of  them  from  the  top  of  Mr.  Evans's  rather 
garish  and  incongruous  but  highly  useful  tower  on 
the  spot,  will  serve  to  show  a  network  of  passage- 
ways and  apartments  that  might  easily  have  given 
rise  to  the  tale  of  the  impenetrable  man-trap  which 
Theseus  alone  had  the  wit  to  evade. 

The  ruins  lie  at  the  east  of  the  high  road,  in  a  deep 
valley.  Their  excavation  has  been  very  complete  and 
satisfactory,  and  while  some  restorations  have  been 


CRETE  33 

attempted  here  and  there,  chiefly  because  of  absolute 
necessity  to  preserve  portions  of  the  structure,  they 
are  not  such  restorations  as  to  jar  on  one,  but  exhibit 
a  fidelity  to  tradition  that  saves  them  from  the  com- 
mon fate  of  such  efforts.  Little  or  no  retouching  was 
necessary  in  the  case  of  the  stupendous  flights  of 
steps  that  were  found  leading  up  to  the  door  of  this 
prehistoric  royal  residence,  and  which  are  the  first  of 
the  many  sights  the  visitor  of  to-day  may  see.  It  is 
in  the  so-called  "throne  room  of  Minos"  that  the 
restoring  hand  is  first  met.  Here  it  has  been  found 
necessary  to  provide  a  roof,  that  damage  by  weather 
be  avoided ;  and  to-day  the  throne  room  is  a  dusky 
spot,  rather  below  the  general  level  of  the  place.  Its 
chief  treasure  is  the  throne  itself,  a  stone  chair,  carved 
in  rather  rudimentary  ornamentation,  and  about  the 
size  of  an  ordinary  chair.  The  roof  is  supported  by 
the  curious,  top-heavy-looking  stone  pillars,  that  are 
known  to  have  prevailed  not  only  in  the  Minoan  but 
in  the  Mycenaean  period  ;  monoliths  noticeably  larger 
at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom,  reversing  the  usual 
form  of  stone  pillar  with  which  later  ages  have  made 
us  more  familiar.  This  quite  illogical  inversion  of 
what  we  now  regard  as  the  proper  form  has  been 
accounted  for  in  theory,  by  assuming  that  it  was  the 
natural  successor  of  the  sharpened  wooden  stake. 
When  the  ancients  adopted  stone  supports  for  their 


34     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

roofs,  they  simply  took  over  the  forms  they  had  been 
familiar  with  in  the  former  use  of  wood,  and  the  result 
was  a  stone  pillar  that  copied  the  earlier  wooden  one 
in  shape.  Time,  of  course,  served  to  show  that  the 
natural  way  of  building  demanded  the  reversal  of  this 
custom ;  but  in  the  Mycenaean  age  it  had  not  been 
discovered,  for  there  are  evidences  that  similar  pillars 
existed  in  buildings  of  that  period,  and  the  represen- 
tation of  a  pillar  that  stands  between  the  two  lions 
on  Mycenae's  famous  gate  has  this  inverted  form. 

Many  hours  may  be  spent  in  detailed  examination 
of  this  colossal  ruin,  testifying  to  what  must  have 
been  in  its  day  an  enormous  and  impressive  palace. 
One  cannot  go  far  in  traversing  it  without  noticing 
the  traces  still  evident  enough  of  the  fire  that  ob- 
viously destroyed  it  many  hundred,  if  not  several 
thousand,  years  before  Christ.  Along  the  western  side 
have  been  discovered  long  corridors,  from  which 
scores  of  long  and  narrow  rooms  were  to  be  entered. 
These,  in  the  published  plans,  serve  to  give  to  the 
ruin  a  large  share  of  its  labyrinthine  character.  It 
seems  to  be  agreed  now  that  these  were  the  store- 
rooms of  the  palace,  and  in  them  may  still  be  seen 
the  huge  earthen  jars  which  once  served  to  con- 
tain the  palace  supplies.  Long  rows  of  them  stand  in 
the  ancient  hallways  and  in  the  narrow  cells  that 
lead  off  them,  each  jar  large  enough  to  hold  a  fair- 


CRETE  35 

sized  man,  and  in  number  sufficient  to  have  accom- 
modated Ali  Baba  and  the  immortal  forty  thieves. 
In  the  centre  of  the  palace  little  remains  ;  but  in  the 
southeastern  corner,  where  the  land  begins  to  slope 
abruptly  to  the  valley  below,  there  are  to  be  seen 
several  stories  of  the  ancient  building.  Here  one 
comes  upon  the  rooms  marked  with  the  so-called 
"  distaff  "  pattern,  supposed  to  indicate  that  they  were 
the  women's  quarters.  The  restorer  has  been  busy 
here,  but  not  offensively  so.  Much  of  the  ancient 
wall  is  intact,  and  in  one  place  is  a  bath-room  with 
a  very  diminutive  bath-tub  still  in  place.  Along  the 
eastern  side  is  also  shown  the  oil  press,  where  olives 
were  once  made  to  yield  their  coveted  juices,  and 
from  the  press  proper  a  stone  gutter  conducted  the 
fluid  down  to  the  point  where  jars  were  placed  to 
receive  it.  This  discovery  of  oil  presses  in  ancient 
buildings,  by  the  way,  has  served  in  more  than  one 
case  to  arouse  speculation  as  to  the  antiquity  of  oil 
lamps,  such  as  were  once  supposed  to  belong  only  to 
a  much  later  epoch.  Whether  in  the  Minoan  days 
they  had  such  lamps  or  not,  it  is  known  that  they  had 
at  least  an  oil  press  and  a  good  one.  In  the  side  of 
the  hill  below  the  main  palace  of  Minos  has  been  un- 
earthed a  smaller  structure,  which  they  now  call  the 
"villa,"  and  in  which  several  terraces  have  been  un- 
covered rather  similar  to  the  larger  building  above. 


36     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Here  is  another  throne  room,  cunningly  contrived  to 
be  lighted  by  a  long  shaft  of  light  from  above  falling 
on  the  seat  of  justice  itself,  while  the  rest  of  the  room 
is  in  obscurity. 

It  may  be  that  it  requires  a  stretch  of  the  imagina- 
tion to  compare  the  palace  of  Cnossos  with  Troy, 
but  nevertheless  there  are  one  or  two  features  that 
seem  not  unlike  the  discoveries  made  by  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann  on  that  famous  site.  Notably  so,  it  seems  to 
me,  are  the  traces  of  the  final  fire,  which  are  to  be  seen 
at  Cnossos  as  at  Troy,  and  the  huge  jars,  which  maybe 
compared  with  the  receptacles  the  Trojan  excavators 
unearthed,  and  found  still  to  contain  dried  peas  and 
other  things  that  the  Trojans  left  behind  when  they 
fled  from  their  sacked  and  burning  city.  Few  are 
privileged  to  visit  the  site  of  Priam's  city,  which  is 
hard  indeed  to  reach  ;  but  it  is  easy  enough  to  make 
the  excursion  to  Candia  and  visit  the  palace  of  old 
King  Minos,  which  is  amply  worth  the  trouble,  be- 
sides giving  a  glimpse  of  a  civilization  that  is  pos- 
sibly vastly  older  than  even  that  of  Troy  and  Mycenae. 
For  those  who  reverence  the  great  antiquities,  Candia 
and  its  pre-classic  suburb  are  distinctly  worth  visit- 
ing, and  are  unique  among  the  sights  of  the  ancient 
Hellenic  and  pre-Hellenic  world. 


CHAPTER  III.    THE  ENTRANCE 
TO  GREECE 


LEAVING  Crete  behind,  the  steamer  turns  her 
prow  northward  into  the  ^gean  toward  Greece 
proper,  and  in  the  early  morning,  if  all  goes  smoothly, 
will  be  found  well  inside  the  promontory  of  Sunium, 
approaching  the  Piraeus.  One  ought  most  infallibly 
to  be  early  on  deck,  for  the  rugged,  rocky  shores  of 
the  Peloponnesus  are  close  at  hand  on  the  left,  in- 
dented here  and  there  by  deep  inlets  or  gulfs,  and 
looking  as  most  travelers  seem  to  think  "  Greece 
ought  to  look."  If  it  is  clear,  a  few  islands  may  be 
seen  on  the  right,  though  none  of  the  celebrated  ones 
are  near  enough  to  be  seen  with  any  satisfaction. 
Sunium  itself  is  so  far  away  to  the  eastward  that  it 
is  impossible  at  this  distance  to  obtain  any  idea  of 
the  ancient  ruin  that  still  crowns  its  summit. 

Although  to  enter  Greece  by  way  of  the  Piraeus  is 
actually  to  enter  the  front  door  of  the  kingdom,  never- 
theless, as  has  been  hinted  heretofore,  one  may  vote 


38     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

on  the  whole  that  it  is  better  to  make  this  the  point 
of  departure  instead  of  that  of  initiation.  Leaving 
Greece  as  most  of  us  do  with  a  poignant  sense  of 
regret,  it  is  not  unfitting  that  we  depart  with  the  bene- 
diction of  the  old  Acropolis  of  Athens,  crowned  with 
its  famous  ruins,  which  are  to  be  seen  even  when  far 
at  sea,  glowing  in  the  afternoon  sun,  and  furnishing 
an  ideal  last  view  of  this  land  of  golden  memories. 
Simply  because  it  makes  such  an  ideal  last  view, 
leaving  the  crowning  "  glory  that  was  Greece  "  last 
in  the  mind's  eye,  one  may  well  regard  this  point  as 
the  best  one  for  leaving,  whatever  may  be  said  for 
it  as  a  place  of  beginning  an  acquaintance  with 
Hellas.  It  must  be  confessed  that  to  one  approach- 
ing for  the  first  time,  save  in  the  clearest  weather, 
the  view  of  the  Acropolis  from  the  sea  is  likely  to 
be  somewhat  disappointing,  because  the  locating  of 
it  in  the  landscape  is  not  an  easy  matter.  Under  a 
cloudy  sky  —  and  there  are  occasionally  such  skies 
even  in  sunny  Greece  —  it  is  not  at  all  easy  to  pick 
out  the  Acropolis,  lying  low  in  the  foreground  and 
flanked  by  such  superior  heights  as  Lycabettus  and 
Pentelicus.  Hence  it  is  that  the  voyager,  returning 
home  from  a  stay  in  Athens,  enjoys  the  seaward  view 
of  the  receding  site  far  more  than  the  approaching 
newcomer ;  and  it  must  be  added  that,  however  one 
may  reverence  the  Acropolis  from  his  reading,  it  can 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  39 

never  mean  so  much  to  him  as  it  will  after  a  few  days 
of  personal  acquaintance,  when  he  has  learned  to 
know  its  every  stone.  What  slight  disappointment 
one  may  feel  on  first  beholding  the  ancient  rock  of 
Athena  from  the  ocean,  is,  after  all,  only  momentary 
and  due  solely  to  the  distance.  It  is  certain  to  be  re- 
moved later  when  closer  acquaintance  shows  it  to  be 
the  stupendous  rock  it  really  is,  standing  alone,  and 
seen  to  better  advantage  than  when  the  hills  that  wall 
the  Attic  plain  overshadow  it  in  the  perspective. 

As  the  steamer  approaches,  the  loftier  heights  of 
Hymettus,  Pentelicus,  Parnes,  ^gina,  and  Salamis 
intrude  themselves  and  will  not  be  denied,  framing 
between  them  the  valley  in  which  Athens  lies,  ob- 
scured for  the  time  being  by  the  tall  chimneys  and 
the  forest  of  masts  that  herald  the  presence  of  the 
Piraeus  in  the  immediate  foreground.  That  city  is  as 
of  yore  the  seaport  of  Athens,  and  is  a  thriving  city 
in  itself,  although  from  its  proximity  to  the  famous 
capital  it  loses  individual  prestige,  and  seems  rather 
like  a  dependence  of  the  main  city  than  a  separate 
and  important  town,  rivaling  Athens  herself  in  size, 
if  not  in  history. 

Perhaps  the  most  trying  experience  to  the  new- 
comer is  this  landing  at  the  Piraeus  and  the  labor 
involved  in  getting  ashore  and  up  to  Athens ;  but, 
after  all,  it  is  trying  only  in  the  sense  that  it  is  a  mat- 


40    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

ter  for  much  bargaining,  in  which  the  unfamiUar  vis- 
itor is  at  an  obvious  disadvantage.  As  in  all  Greek 
ports,  the  landing  is  to  be  accomplished  only  by  small 
boats,  which  are  manned  by  watermen  having  no 
connection  at  all  with  the  steamship  companies.  It 
would  seem  to  be  the  reasonable  duty  of  a  steamer 
line  to  provide  facilities  for  setting  its  passengers 
ashore,  and  in  time  this  may  be  done ;  but  it  is  an 
unfortunate  fact  that  it  is  not  done  now,  and  the  pas- 
senger is  left  to  bargain  for  himself  with  the  crowd  of 
small  craft  that  surrounds  the  vessel  as  she  is  slowly 
and  painfully  berthed.  The  harbor  itself  is  seen  to 
be  a  very  excellent  and  sheltered  one,  protected  by 
two  long  breakwaters,  which  admit  of  hardly  more 
than  a  single  large  vessel  at  a  time  between  their 
narrow  jaws.  Within,  it  opens  out  into  a  broad  ex- 
panse of  smooth  water,  lined  throughout  its  periph- 
ery by  a  low  stone  quay.  While  the  steamer  is  being 
warped  to  her  position,  always  with  the  stern  toward 
the  shore,  a  fleet  of  small  boats,  most  of  them  flying 
the  flags  of  hotels  in  Athens  or  of  the  several  tourist 
agencies,  eagerly  swarm  around  and  await  the  lower- 
ing of  the  landing  stairs,  meantime  gesticulating  vio- 
lently to  attract  the  attention  of  passengers  on  deck. 
Little  that  is  definite,  however,  can  be  done  until  the 
gangway  is  lowered  and  the  boatmen's  representa- 
tives have  swarmed  on  the  deck  itself.  There  is  time 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  41 

and  to  spare,  so  that  the  voyager  has  no  occasion  to 
hurry,  but  may  possess  his  soul  in  patience  and  seek 
to  make  the  most  advantageous  terms  possible  with 
the  lowest  bidder.  The  boatmen,  be  well  assured,  know 
English  enough  to  negotiate  the  bargain. 

Despite  the  apparent  competition,  which  ought  by 
all  the  laws  of  economics  to  be  the  life  of  trade,  it 
will  doubtless  be  found  quite  impossible  to  make 
any  arrangement  for  landing  and  getting  up  to  the 
city  for  a  sum  much  under  twelve  francs.  That  is  the 
published  tariff  of  the  hotels  which  send  out  boats, 
and  if  one  is  certain  of  his  stopping-place  in  Athens 
he  will  doubtless  do  well  to  close  immediately  with 
the  boatman  displaying  the  insignia  of  that  partic- 
ular hostelry.  But  it  is  entirely  probable  that  any 
regular  habitue  would  say  that  the  hotel  tariff  is 
grossly  out  of  proportion  to  the  actual  cost,  since  the 
boatman's  fee  should  be  not  more  than  a  franc  and 
the  ride  to  Athens  not  more  than  six.  As  for  the 
tourist  agencies,  they  may  be  depended  upon  to  ask 
more  than  the  hotel  runners  do,  and  the  only  limit 
is  the  visitor's  credulity  and  ignorance  of  the  place. 
Whatever  bargain  is  made,  the  incoming  passenger 
will,  if  wise,  see  to  it  that  it  is  understood  to  cover 
everything,  including  the  supposititious  "  landing 
tax"  that  is  so  often  foisted  upon  the  customer  after 
landing  in  Athens  as  an  "  extra."  These  are  doubtless 


42     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

sordid  details,  but  necessary  ones,  and  matters  which 
it  may  prove  profitable  to  understand  before  venturing 
in.  Having  dismissed  them  as  such,  we  may  turn  with 
more  enjoyment  to  the  prospect  now  presenting  itself. 

Piraeus,  as  all  the  world  knows,  is  the  port  of  Athens 
now  as  in  classic  times.  Topographically  it  has  three 
good  harbors,  the  Piraeus  proper,  Zea,  and  Munychia 
—  the  latter  name  also  applying  to  the  rocky  promon- 
tory which  juts  out  and  separates  the  harbor  from  the 
Saronic  Gulf.  It  was  on  the  Munychia  peninsula  that 
Themistocles  in  493  B.  C.  erected  a  town,  and  it  was 
Themistocles,  also,  who  conceived  and  carried  out 
the  scheme  for  the  celebrated  "  long  walls  "  which  ran 
from  the  port  up  to  Athens,  and  made  the  city  prac- 
tically impregnable  by  making  it  quite  independent 
of  the  rest  of  Attica,  so  long  as  the  Athenian  suprem- 
acy by  sea  remained  unquestioned.  Thus  it  came  to 
pass  that,  during  the  Peloponnesian  War,  when  all  the 
rest  of  the  Attic  plain  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Lacedaemonians,  Athens  herself  remained  practi- 
cally undisturbed,  thanks  not  only  to  the  long  walls 
and  ships,  but  also  to  the  fortifications  of  Cimon 
and  Pericles.  The  Athenian  navy,  however,  was 
finally  overwhelmed  in  the  battle  of  ^gospotamoi  in 
404  B.  C,  and  the  port  fell  a  prey  to  the  enemy,  who 
demolished  the  long  walls,  to  the  music  of  the  flute. 

Ten  years  later,  when  Athens  had  somewhat  recov- 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  43 

ered  from  the  first  defeat,  Conon  rebuilt  the  walls, 
and  Athens,  with  Piraeus,  for  a  space  enjoyed  a  re- 
turn of  her  ancient  greatness  and  prosperity.  The 
Roman  under  Sulla  came  in  86  B.  C,  and  practically 
put  an  end  to  the  famous  capital,  which  became  an 
inconsiderable  village,  and  so  remained  down  to  the 
Grecian  risorgimento.  The  present  city  of  Piraeus,  and 
the  city  of  Athens  also,  practically  date  from  1836, 
though  the  old  names  had  been  revived  the  year  pre- 
vious. Up  to  that  time  the  spot  had  for  years  passed 
under  the  unclassic  name  of  Porto  Leone. 

Inasmuch  as  the  fame  of  Athens  and  her  empire 
rested  on  the  navy  as  its  foundation,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  navy  made  its  home  in  the  waters  of  the  Pi- 
raeus and  Munychia,  the  locality  has  its  glorious  mem- 
ories to  share  with  the  still  more  glorious  traditions 
of  the  neighboring  Salamis,  where  the  Persians  of 
Xerxes  were  put  to  such  utter  rout.  It  was  from  this 
harbor  that  the  splendid,  but  ill-fated,  Sicilian  expe- 
dition set  out,  with  flags  flying,  paeans  sounding,  and 
libations  pouring.  And  it  was  to  the  Piraeus  that  a 
lone  survivor  of  that  sorry  campaign  returned  to  relate 
the  incredible  news  to  the  village  barber. 

The  harbor  of  the  Piraeus  is  generally  full  of  ship- 
ping of  all  sorts,  including  steamers  of  every  size 
and  nationality,  as  well  as  high-sided  schooners  that 
recall  the  Homeric  epithet  of  the  "  hollow  ships." 


44     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Some  are  en  route  to  or  from  Constantinople,  Alexan- 
dria, Naples,  the  ports  of  the  Adriatic,  the  Orient,  — 
everywhere.  The  Greek  coastwise  vessels  often  bear 
their  names  printed  in  large  w^hite  letters  amid- 
ships, familiar  names  looking  decidedly  odd  in  the 
Greek  characters.  All  are  busily  loading  or  discharg- 
ing, for  the  Piraeus  is,  as  ever,  a  busy  port.  Under 
the  sterns  of  several  such  ships  the  shore  boat  passes, 
its  occupants  ducking  repeatedly  under  the  sagging 
stern  cables,  until  in  a  brief  time  all  are  set  ashore 
at  the  custom-house.  That  institution,  however,  need 
give  the  visitor  little  apprehension.  The  examination 
of  reasonable  luggage  is  seldom  or  never  oppressive 
or  fraught  with  inconvenience,  doubtless  because  the 
visitor  is  duly  recognized  by  the  government  as  a 
being  whose  presence  is  bound  to  be  of  profit,  and 
who  should  not,  therefore,  be  wantonly  discouraged 
at  the  very  threshold  of  the  kingdom.  Little  is  in- 
sisted on  save  a  declaration  that  the  baggage  con- 
tains no  tobacco  or  cigarettes.  The  porters  as  a  rule 
are  more  tolerant  of  copper  tips  than  the  present 
rapidly  spoiling  race  of  ItsdisLU /acc/izm. 

The  sensible  way  to  proceed  to  Athens  is  by  car- 
riage, taking  the  Phalerum  road.  The  electric  tram, 
which  is  a  very  commodious  third-rail  system  resem- 
bling the  subway  trains  of  Boston  or  New  York,  is 
all  very  well  if  one  is  free  from  impedimenta.   But  for 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  45 

the  ordinary  voyager,  with  several  valises  or  trunks, 
the  carriage  is  not  only  best  but  probably  the  most 
economical  in  the  end.  The  carriages  are  comfortable, 
and  capable  of  carrying  four  persons  with  reasonable 
baggage. 

Little  of  interest  will  be  found  in  driving  out  of  the 
Piraeus,  which  is  a  frankly  commercial  place,  devoid 
of  architectural  or  enduring  classical  recommenda- 
tions. The  long  walls  that  once  connected  the  port 
with  Athens  have  disappeared  almost  beyond  recall, 
although  the  sites  are  know^n.  Nor  is  the  beach  of  New 
Phalerum  (pronounced  Fal-eron)  much  more  attrac- 
tive than  the  Piraeus  itself.  It  reminds  one  strongly 
of  suburban  beach  places  at  home,  lined  as  it  is  with 
cheap  cottages,  coffee-houses,  restaurants,  bicycle 
shops,  and  here  and  there  a  more  pretentious  resi- 
dence, while  at  least  one  big  and  garish  hotel  is  to 
be  seen.  The  sea,  varying  from  a  light  green  to  a 
deep  Mediterranean  blue,  laps  gently  along  the  side 
of  the  highway  toward  the  open  ocean,  while  ahead, 
up  the  straight  boulevard,  appears  the  Acropolis  of 
Athens,  now  seen  for  the  first  time  in  its  proper  light 
as  one  of  the  most  magnificent  ruins  of  the  earth. 
The  road  thither  is  good  but  uncomfortably  new. 
When  its  long  lines  of  pepper  trees,  now  in  their 
infancy,  shall  have  attained  their  growth,  it  will  be  a 
highway  lined  with  shade  and  affording  a  prospect 


46     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  much  beauty.  In  its  present  state,  however,  which 
is  destined  to  endure  for  some  years  to  come,  it  is  a 
long,  straight,  and  rather  dreary  boulevard,  relieved 
only  by  the  glorious  prospect  of  the  crowning  ruin  of 
Athens  something  like  four  miles  away,  but  tower- 
ing alone  and  grand,  and  no  longer  dwarfed  by  the 
surrounding  gray  hills.  Still  this  route  seems  to  me 
infinitely  better,  even  to-day,  than  the  older  road 
from  Piraeus,  which  approaches  Athens  from  the  west- 
ern side  without  going  near  the  sea,  but  which  is 
not  without  its  charms,  nevertheless,  and  certainly 
does  give  the  one  who  takes  it  a  splendid  view  of 
the  imposing  western  front  of  the  Acropolis  and  its 
array  of  temples,  across  a  plain  green  with  waving 
grasses. 

Approaching  the  city  from  the  Phalerum  side 
serves  to  give  a  very  striking  impression  of  the  inac- 
cessibility of  the  Acropolis,  showing  its  precipitous 
southern  face,  crowned  by  the  ruined  Parthenon, 
whose  ancient  pillars,  weathered  to  a  golden  brown, 
stand  gleaming  in  the  sun  against  the  deep  and  bril- 
liant blue  of  the  Greek  sky.  Those  who  have  pictured 
the  temple  as  glistening  white  will  be  vastly  surprised, 
no  doubt,  on  seeing  its  actual  color ;  for  the  iron  and 
other  metals  present  in  the  Pentelic  marble,  of  which 
it  was  built,  have  removed  almost  entirely  the  white 
or  creamy  tints,  and  have  given  in  their  place  a  rich 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  47 

mottled  appearance,  due  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  this 
shrine. 

Aside  from  the  ever  present  prospect  of  the  Acro- 
polis and  its  promise  of  interest  in  store,  the  road  to 
Athens  is  devoid  of  much  to  attract  attention.  The 
long,  gray  ridge  of  Hymettus,  which  runs  along  just 
east  of  the  road,  of  course  is  a  famous  mountain  by 
reason  of  its  well-known  brand  of  honey,  if  for  no 
other  reason.  Halfway  up  the  gradual  incline  to  the 
city  there  is  a  small  and  rather  unattractive  church, 
said  to  be  a  votive  offering  made  by  the  king  in  thank- 
fulness at  escaping  the  bullets  of  two  would-be  assas- 
sins at  this  point.  On  the  left,  and  still  far  ahead,  rises 
the  hill,  crowned  by  the  ruined  but  still  conspicuous 
monument  of  Philopappus.  Situated  on  a  command- 
ing eminence  south  of  the  Acropolis,  this  monument 
is  a  dominant  feature  of  almost  every  view  of  Athens ; 
but  it  is  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  importance 
of  the  man  whose  vague  memory  it  recalls. 

Passing  the  eastern  and  most  lofty  end  of  the  Acro- 
polis, the  carriage  at  last  turns  into  the  outskirts  of 
the  city  proper  and  traverses  a  broad  and  pleasant 
avenue,  its  wide  sidewalks  shaded  by  graceful  and 
luxuriant  pepper  trees,  while  the  prosperous  looking 
houses  give  an  attractive  first  impression  of  residen- 
tial Athens.  The  modern  is  curiously  intermingled 
with  the  ancient ;  for  on  the  right,  in  the  fields  which 


48     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

border  the  highway,  are  to  be  seen  the  few  remaining 
colossal  columns  of  the  rather  florid  temple  of  Olym- 
pian Zeus  and  the  fragmentary  arch  of  Hadrian,  the 
Roman  emperor  in  whose  reign  that  temple  was  at 
last  completed.  It  is  peculiarly  fitting  to  enter  Athens 
between  these  ruins  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Acro- 
polis on  the  other,  for  they  are  so  characteristic  of 
the  great  chief  attraction  of  the  place,  —  its  immortal 
past. 

The  city  proper  now  opens  out  before,  and  as  the 
carriage  enters  the  great  principal  square  of  Athens, 
the  "  Syntagma,"  or  Place  de  la  Constitution,  hand- 
some streets  may  be  seen  radiating  from  it  in  all 
directions,  giving  a  general  impression  of  cleanly 
whiteness,  while  the  square  itself,  spreading  a  wide 
open  space  before  the  huge  and  rather  barnlike  royal 
palace,  is  filled  with  humanity  passing  to  and  fro,  or 
seated  at  small  tables  in  the  open  air,  partaking  of 
the  coffee  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  Greek ;  and 
carriages  dash  here  and  there,  warning  pedestrians 
only  by  the  driver's  repeated  growl  of  "  empros,  em- 
pros!"  (e/xirpoi),  which  is  exactly  equivalent  to  the  golf- 
player's  "  fore  ! "  And  here  in  the  crowded  square  we 
may  leave  the  traveler  for  the  present,  doubtless  not 
far  from  his  hotel,  —  for  hotels  are  all  about,  —  with 
only  the  parting  word  of  advice  that  he  shall  early 
seek  repose,  in  the  certitude  that  there  will  be  some 


THE  ENTRANCE  TO  GREECE  49 

little  noise.  For  the  Athenians  are  almost  as  noisy 
and  nocturnal  creatures  as  the  Palermitans  or  Nea- 
politans, and  the  nights  will  be  filled  with  music  and 
many  other  sounds  of  revelry.  To  be  sure,  there  are 
no  paved  streets  and  no  clanging  trolley  cars ;  but 
the  passing  throngs  will  make  up  for  any  lack  in 
that  regard,  even  until  a  late  hour  of  the  night. 


CHAPTER  IV.  ATHENS  ;  THE 
MODERN  CITY 


ATHENS  lies  in  a  long  and  narrow  plain  between 
two  rocky  mountain  ridges  that  run  dovrn 
from  the  north.  The  plain  to-day  is  neither  interest- 
ing nor  particularly  fertile,  although  it  is  still  tilled  with 
some  success.  Once  when  it  was  better  watered  by 
the  Cephissus  and  Ilissus  rivers,  whose  courses  are 
still  visible  though  in  the  main  dry  and  rocky,  it  was 
doubtless  better  able  to  support  the  local  population  ; 
but  to-day  it  is  rather  a  bare  and  unattractive  inter- 
vale between  mountains  quite  as  bare  —  gray,  rocky 
heights,  covered  with  little  vegetation  save  the  sparse 
gorse  and  thyme.  At  that  point  in  the  plain  where  a 
lofty,  isolated,  and  nearly  oblong  rock,  with  precipi- 
tous sides,  invited  the  foundation  of  a  citadel,  Athens 
sprang  into  being.  And  there  she  stands  to-day,  hav- 
ing pivoted  around  the  hoary  Acropolis  crag  for 
centuries,  first  south,  then  west,  then  north,  until 
the  latter  has  become  the  final  abiding  place  of  the 


ATHENS;   THE  MODERN  CITY  51 

modern  town,  while  the  older  sites  to  the  southward 
and  westward  lie  almost  deserted  save  for  the  activ- 
ities of  the  archaeologists  and  students,  who  have 
found  them  rich  and  interesting  ground  for  explora- 
tion. Always,  however,  the  Acropolis  was  the  fulcrum 
or  focus,  and  it  was  on  this  unique  rock  that  Poseidon 
and  Athena  waged  their  immortal  contest  for  the 
possession  of  the  Attic  plain.  Tradition  says  that 
Poseidon  smote  with  his  trident  and  a  salt  spring 
gushed  forth  from  the  cleft  rock,  thus  proving  his 
power ;  but  that  the  judgment  of  the  gods  was  in 
favor  of  Athena,  who  made  to  spring  up  from  the 
ground  an  olive  tree.  Wherefore  the  land  was  allotted 
to  her,  and  from  her  the  city  took  its  name.  Under 
the  northern  side  of  the  towering  rock  and  around  to 
the  east  of  it  runs  the  thriving  city  of  to-day,  thence 
spreading  off  for  perhaps  two  miles  to  the  northward 
along  the  plain,  first  closely  congested,  then  widening 
into  more  open  modernized  streets,  and  finally  dwin- 
dling into  scattered  suburbs  out  in  the  countryside. 

The  growth  of  Athens  has  left  its  marks  of  pro- 
gress in  well-defined  strata.  The  narrow,  squalid, 
slummiy  streets  of  the  quarter  nearest  the  Acropolis 
belong  to  the  older  or  Turkish  period  of  the  city's 
renascent  life.  Beyond  these  one  meets  newer  and 
broader  highways,  lined  in  many  cases  with  neat  mod- 
ern shops,  called  into  life  by  the  city's  remarkable 


52     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

growth  of  the  past  two  decades,  which  have  raised 
Athens  from  the  rank  of  a  dirty  village  to  a  clean  and 
attractive  metropolis  —  in  the  better  sense  of  that 
much  abused  word.  Still  farther  away  are  seen  the 
natural  products  of  the  overflow  of  a  thriving  modern 
town  —  suburbs  clustering  around  isolated  mills  or 
wine-presses.  The  present  population  is  not  far  from 
a  hundred  thousand  persons,  so  that  Athens  to-day 
is  not  an  inconsiderable  place.  The  population  is 
chiefly  the  native  Greek,  modified  no  doubt  by  long 
submission  to  Turkish  rule  and  mingled  with  a  good 
deal  of  Turkish  blood,  but  still  preserving  the  lan- 
guage, names,  and  traditions  that  bespeak  a  glorious 
past.  Despite  the  persistence  of  such  names  as  Aris- 
teides,  Miltiades,  Themistocles,  Socrates,  and  the  like 
among  the  modern  Athenians,  it  would  no  doubt 
be  rashly  unreasonable  to  expect  to  find  in  a  popu- 
lation that  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  so  long 
enslaved  by  Turkey  very  much  that  savors  of  the 
traditional  Greek  character  as  it  stood  in  the  days  of 
Pericles.  But  there  have  not  been  wanting  eminent 
scholars,  who  have  insisted  that  our  exalted  ideas 
'  of  the  ancient  Greeks  are  really  derived  from  a  com- 
paratively few  exceptional  and  shining  examples, 
and  that  the  ancient  population  may  have  resembled 
the  present  citizens  more  than  we  are  prone  to  think, 
in  traits  and  general  ability. 


ATHENS  ;  THE  MODERN  CITY  53 

On  his  native  heath  the  modern  Greek  openly 
charges  his  own  race  with  a  lack  of  industry  and  love 
of  idling  too  much  in  the  coffee-houses,  although  it 
is  an  indictment  which  has  never  struck  me  as  just, 
and  one  which,  if  coming  from  a  foreigner,  would 
doubtless  be  resented.  It  is  true  that  the  coffee- 
houses are  seldom  deserted,  and  the  possession  of  an 
extra  drachma  or  two  is  generally  enough  to  tempt 
one  to  abandon  his  employ  for  the  seclusion  that  the 
kaffeneion  grants,  there  to  sip  slowly  until  the  cups 
of  syrupy  coffee  which  the  money  will  buy  are  gone. 
Nevertheless,  one  should  be  slow  to  say  that  the  race 
is  indolent  by  nature,  especially  in  view  of  its  cli- 
matic surroundings ;  for  there  are  too  many  thousand 
thrifty  and  hard-working  Hellenes  in  Greece  and  in 
America  as  well  to  refute  any  such  accusation.  The 
one  vast  trouble,  no  doubt,  is  the  lack  of  any  spur  to 
industrial  ambition  at  home,  or  of  any  very  attractive 
or  remunerative  employment  compared  with  the  op- 
portunities offered  by  the  cities  of  the  newer  world. 
The  strong  set  of  the  tide  of  emigration  to  American 
shores  has  tended  largely  to  depopulate  Greece  ;  but 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  return  of  the  natives,  which 
is  by  no  means  uncommon,  will  in  time  work  large 
benefit  to  Hellas  herself,  and  the  attraction  of  her  sons 
to  foreign  lands  thus  prove  a  blessing  rather  than,  as 
was  once  supposed,  a  curse. 


54     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

This,  however,  is  rather  aside  from  any  consideration 
of  the  modern  city  of  Athens.  Let  it  be  said  at  the 
outset  that  one  may  go  freely  anywhere  in  the  city 
and  be  quite  unmolested  either  by  malicious  or  men- 
dicant persons.  It  is  not  improbable,  of  course,  that 
the  increasing  inundation  of  Athens  by  foreign  visit- 
ors will  tend  somewhat  to  increase  the  tendency  to 
begging,  as  it  has  elsewhere ;  but  it  is  due  the  Greek 
race  to  say  that  it  is  infinitely  less  lazy  and  infinitely 
less  inclined  to  proletarianism,  or  to  seeking  to  live 
without  work,  than  the  Italian.  Small  children,  as  in 
all  countries,  will  be  found  occasionally  begging  a 
penny,  especially  if  they  have  gone  out  of  their  way 
to  render  a  fancied  service,  by  ostentatiously  opening 
a  gate  that  already  stood  ajar.  But  there  are  few  of 
the  lame,  halt,  and  blind,  such  as  infest  Naples  and 
many  smaller  Mediterranean  cities,  seeking  to  extort 
money  from  sheer  pity  of  unsightliness.  Here  and 
there  in  Athens  one  may  indeed  see  a  cripple  patiently 
awaiting  alms,  but  generally  in  a  quiet  and  unobtru- 
sive way.  Neither  is  the  visitor  bothered  by  the  impor- 
tunities of  carriage  drivers,  although  the  carriages 
are  numerous  enough  and  anxious  for  fares  —  a  con- 
trast that  is  welcome  indeed  to  one  newly  come  from 
Italy  and  fresh  from  the  tireless  pursuit  of  warring 
Neapolitan  cabbies.  The  ofTset  to  this  welcome  peace 
is  the  fact  that  carriage  fares  in  Athens  are  undoubt- 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  55 

edly  high  compared  with  the  astonishingly  low  charges 
produced  in  Naples  by  active  and  incessant  com- 
petition of  the  vetturini.  The  sole  dangers  of  Athe- 
nian streets  are  those  incident  to  the  fast  driving  of 
carriages  over  the  unpaved  roadways  ;  for  the  pedes- 
trian has  his  own  way  to  make  and  his  own  safety  to 
guard,  as  is  largely  true  in  Paris,  and  it  is  incumbent 
on  him  to  stop,  look,  and  listen  before  venturing  into 
the  highway. 

The  street  venders  of  laces,  sponges,  flowers,  and 
postal  cards  are  perhaps  the  nearest  to  an  importunate 
class,  though  they  generally  await  invitation  to  the 
attack,  and  their  efforts  are  invariably  good-humored. 
The  region  of  the  "Syntagma"  square  is  generally 
full  of  them,  lining  the  curb  and  laden  with  their 
wares.  Men  will  be  seen  with  long  strips  of  fascinating 
island  lace  over  their  shoulders,  baskets  on  baskets 
of  flowers,  heaps  of  curiously  shaped,  marvelously 
attractive  sponges,  fresh  and  white  from  the  near-by 
ocean,  or  packets  of  well-executed  postal  cards  pictur- 
ing the  city's  classic  remains,  all  offered  for  sale  to 
whomsoever  will  exhibit  the  faintest  trace  of  interest. 
Needless  to  say,  the  initial  prices  asked  are  inevi- 
tably excessive  and  yield  to  treatment  with  surprising 
revelations  of  latitude. 

Athens  is  a  clean  city.  Its  streets,  while  unpaved, 
are  still  fairly  hard.  Its  buildings  are  in  the  main  of 


56     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

stone,  covered  with  a  stucco  finish  and  given  a  white 
color,  or  a  tint  of  buff  or  light  blue.  The  prevailing 
tone  is  white,  and  in  the  glare  of  the  brilliant  sun  it  is 
often  rather  trying  to  the  eyes.  To  relieve  the  white- 
ness there  is  always  the  feathery  green  of  the  pepper 
trees,  and  the  contrast  of  the  clambering  vines  and 
flowers  that  in  their  season  go  far  to  make  the  city  so 
attractive.  Most  notable  of  all  the  contrasts  in  color  is 
unquestionably  the  rich  purple  of  the  bougainvillea 
blooms  splashed  in  great  masses  against  the  immacu- 
late walls  and  porticoes  of  the  more  pretentious 
houses.  The  gardens  are  numerous  and  run  riot  with 
roses,  iris,  and  hundreds  of  other  fragrant  and  lovely 
blossoms.  The  sidewalks  are  broad  and  smooth.  It  is 
an  easy  town  in  which  to  stroll  about,  for  the  distances 
are  not  great  and  the  street  scenes  are  interesting 
and  frequently  unusual  to  a  high  degree,  while  vistas 
are  constantly  opening  to  give  momentary  views  of 
the  towering  Acropolis.  It  is  not  a  hilly  city,  but  rather 
built  on  rolling  ground,  the  prevailing  slope  of  which 
is  toward  the  west,  gently  down  from  the  pointed  Lyca- 
bettus  to  the  ancient  course  of  the  Cephissus,  along 
which  once  spread  the  famous  grove  of  Academe. 
The  lack  of  a  sufficient  water  supply  is  unfortunate, 
for  one  misses  the  gushing  of  fountains  which  makes 
Rome  so  delightful,  and  the  restricted  volume  avail- 
able for  domestic  uses  is  sometimes  far  from  pleasant. 


ATHENS ;  THE  MODERN  CITY  57 

The  Athenians  had  a  prodigious  mine  to  draw 
upon  for  the  naming  of  their  streets,  in  the  magnifi- 
cent stretch  of  their  history  and  in  the  fabulous  wealth 
of  mythology.  And  it  is  a  fact  worth  remarking  that 
the  mythological  gods  and  heroes  appear  to  have 
decidedly  the  better  of  the  famous  mortals  in  the 
selection  of  street  names  to  do  them  honor.  For  ex- 
ample, Pericles,  the  greatest  Athenian  in  many  ways, 
is  recalled  by  the  name  of  a  decidedly  poor  thorough- 
fare —  hardly  more  than  an  alley ;  while  Pheidias, 
Pindar,  Homer,  Solon,  and  a  score  of  others  fare  but 
little  better.  On  the  contrary,  the  great  gods  of  high 
Olympus,  Hermes,  Athena,  ^Eolus,  and  others,  give 
their  names  to  the  finest,  broadest,  most  magnificent 
streets  of  this  city  that  likes  to  call  herself  a  little 
Paris.  The  result  of  it  all  is  a  curious  mental  state, 
for  by  the  time  one  gets  out  of  Athens  and  into  the 
highlands  of  Delphi  or  of  the  Peloponnesus,  where 
every  peak  and  vale  is  the  scene  of  some  godlike 
encounter  or  amour,  one  is  more  than  half  ready  to 
accept  those  ancient  deities  as  actually  having  lived 
and  done  the  things  that  legend  ascribes  to  them. 
They  become  fully  as  real  to  the  mind  as  William 
Tell  or  Pocahontas.  The  same  illusion  is  helped  on 
by  the  classic  names  afiected  for  the  engines  of  the 
Pirseus-Athens-Peloponnesus  Railroad,  and  by  the 
time  one  has  ridden  for  a  day  behind  the  "  Hermes  " 


58    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

or  the  "  Hephaistos,"  one  is  quite  ready  to  expect  to 
see  Proteus  rising  from  the  sea,  or  hear  old  Triton 
blow  his  wreathed  horn. 

It  is  at  first  a  trifle  perplexing  to  one  not  versed  in 
the  Greek  language  to  find  the  streets  all  labeled  in 
the  genitive  case,  such  as  68os  'Epfiov  (othos  Ermou), 
"  street  of  Hermes."  This  soon  becomes  a  matter  of 
course,  however.  The  main  shopping  district  is  con- 
fined to  the  greater  highways  of  Hermes,  yEolus,  and 
Athena,  and  to  Stadium  Street  —  the  latter  so  called 
because  its  length  is  about  one  kilometre,  which  is 
the  modern  "  stadion,"  instead  of  the  lesser  classic 
length  of  approximately  six  hundred  feet.  The  name 
therefore  has  no  reference  to  the  magnificent  athletic 
field  of  the  city,  in  which  the  so-called  modern 
"Olympic"  games  are  occasionally  held,  and  which 
in  itself  is  a  fine  sight  to  see,  as  it  lies  in  its  natural 
amphitheatre  east  of  the  city,  and  brilliant  in  its 
newly  built  surfaces  of  purest  marble.  Stadium 
Street  is  perhaps  the  most  modern  and  up-to-date 
street  in  Athens,  lined  with  handsome  stores,  hotels, 
and  cafes,  thronged  day  and  night,  and  perhaps  even 
more  gay  and  Parisian-looking  by  night,  with  its 
many  lights  and  teeming  life. 

Athens  at  this  writing  has  no  system  of  trolley 
cars,  but  sticks  obstinately  to  an  old-fashioned  and 
quite  inadequate  horse-railway,  the  several  lines  ra- 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  59 

diating  from  the  Omonoia  Square — pronounced  much 
like  "Ammonia" — which,  being  interpreted,  means 
the  same  as  Place  de  la  Concorde.  To  master  the 
intricacies  of  this  tramway  system  requires  a  consid- 
erable acquaintance  with  Athens,  but  it  is  vastly  less 
involved  a  problem  than  the  omnibuses  of  London 
and  Paris,  and  naturally  so  because  of  the  smaller 
size  of  the  town.  Odd  little  carriages  plying  between 
stated  points  eke  out  the  local  transportation  ser- 
vice, while  the  third-rail,  semi-underground  line  to 
the  Piraeus  and  the  antiquated  steam  tram  to  New 
Phalerum  give  a  suburban  service  that  is  not  to  be 
despised.  In  a  very  few  years  no  doubt  the  trolley 
will  invade  Athens,  for  it  already  has  a  foothold  in 
Greece  at  the  thriving  port  of  Patras ;  and  when  it 
does,  one  may  whirl  incongruously  about  the  classic 
regions  of  the  Acropolis  as  one  now  whirls  about  the 
Forum  at  Rome. 

The  admirable  Baedeker  warns  visitors  to  Hellas 
against  assuming  too  hastily  that  Greece  is  a  tropical 
land,  merely  because  it  is  a  southern  Mediterranean 
country,  and  our  own  experiences  have  proved  that 
even  in  April  Athens  can  be  as  cold  as  in  mid-winter, 
with  snow  capping  Hymettus  itself.  But  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  Athens  is  warm,  and  as  m 
most  southern  cities  business  is  practically  at  a  stand- 
still between  the  noon  hour  and  two  o'clock  in  the 


6o     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

afternoon.  In  the  summer  months,  which  in  Athens 
means  the  interval  between  May  and  late  fall,  this 
cessation  is  a  practical  necessity,  owing  to  the  heat 
and  the  glare  of  the  noontide  sun  on  the  white  streets 
and  buildings.  But  the  comparative  compactness  of 
the  city  makes  it  entirely  possible  to  walk  almost 
anywhere,  even  on  a  warm  day,  for  the  coolness  of 
shade  as  compared  with  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  always 
noticeable.  Thus  the  visitor  who  has  plenty  of  time 
for  his  stay  in  the  city  is  practically  independent  of 
cars  and  carriages.  For  those  who  find  time  pressing 
and  who  must  cover  the  sites,  or,  as  Baedeker  some- 
times says,  "  overtake  "  the  points  of  interest  in  short 
order,  the  ingenious  device  once  employed  by  a 
friend  similarly  situated  may  not  come  amiss.  Hav- 
ing limited  facilities  of  speech  in  the  native  tongue, 
and  being  practically  without  other  means  of  com- 
munication with  the  cabman,  this  resourceful  traveler 
supplied  himself  with  a  full  set  of  picture  post-cards 
dealing  with  the  more  celebrated  features  of  Athens, 
and  by  dint  of  showing  these  one  after  another  to 
his  Jehu,  he  managed  to  "  do  "  Athens  in  half  a  day  — 
if  one  could  call  it  that.  He  was  not  the  only  one 
to  see  the  ancient  capital  in  such  short  order,  but  it 
remains  true  that  any  such  cavalier  disposition  of  so 
famous  a  place  is  unfortunate  and  wholly  inadequate. 
Athens  is  no  place  for  the  hasty  '*  tripper,"  for  not 


ATHENS ;  THE  MODERN  CITY  6i 

only  are  the  ancient  monuments  worthy  of  long  and 
thoughtful  contemplation,  but  the  modern  city  itself 
is  abundantly  worthy  of  intimate  acquaintance. 

It  has  been  spoken  of  as  a  noisy  city,  and  it  is 
especially  so  after  nightfall,  when  the  streets  are 
thronged  with  people  until  a  late  hour  and  the  coffee- 
houses and  open-air  restaurants  are  in  full  swing. 
Long  after  the  ordinary  person  has  gone  to  bed, 
passing  Athenians  will  be  heard  shouting  or  singing 
in  merry  bands  of  from  three  to  a  dozen,  especially  if 
it  be  election  time.  The  Athenian  takes  his  politics 
as  he  takes  his  coffee  —  in  deliberate  sips,  making  a 
little  go  a  long  way.  The  general  election  period 
usually  extends  over  something  like  two  weeks,  dur- 
ing which  time  the  blank  walls  of  the  city  blossom 
with  the  portraits  of  candidates  and  the  night  is  made 
vocal  with  the  rallying  cries  of  the  free-born.  "  Ral- 
lying "  carriages  are  employed  much  as  our  own 
practical  politicians  employ  them,  to  convey  the  de- 
crepit or  the  reluctant  able-bodied  voters  to  the  polls, 
with  the  difference  that  the  Athenian  rallying  con- 
veyance is  generally  decorated  with  partisan  banners 
and  not  infrequently  bears  on  its  box,  beside  the 
driver,  a  musical  outfit  consisting  of  a  drum  and 
penny  whistle,  with  which  imposing  panoply  the 
proud  voter  progresses  grandly  through  the  streets 
to  the  ballot  box,  attended  by  a  shouting  throng. 


62     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Torchlight  processions,  which  make  up  in  noise  for 
their  lack  of  numbers,  are  common  every  night  dur- 
ing the  election.  The  Athenian,  when  he  does  make 
up  his  mind  to  shout  for  any  aspirant,  shouts  with  his 
whole  being,  and  with  a  vigor  that  recalls  the  days  of 
Stentor.  Noisy  enough  at  all  times,  Athens  is  more 
so  than  ever  in  days  of  political  excitement  or  on 
high  festivals  —  notably  on  the  night  before  Easter, 
when  the  joy  over  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  is 
manifested  in  a  whole-hearted  outpouring  of  the 
spirit,  finding  vent  in  explosives,  rockets,  and  other 
pyrotechnics.  Religious  anniversaries,  such  as  the 
birthday  of  a  saint,  or  the  Nativity,  or  the  final  tri- 
umph of  Jesus,  are  treated  by  the  Greek  with  the 
same  pomp  and  circumstance  that  we  accord  to  the 
Fourth  of  July ;  and,  indeed,  the  same  is  true  of  all 
Mediterranean  countries.  I  have  never  experienced  a 
night  before  Easter  in  Athens,  but  I  have  been  told 
that  this,  one  of  the  most  sacred  of  the  festivals  of  the 
Orthodox  Church,  is  the  one  occasion  when  it  is  at  all 
dangerous  or  disagreeable  to  be  abroad  in  the  streets 
of  the  capital,  and  it  is  so  only  because  of  the  exu- 
berant and  genuine  joy  that  the  native  feels  in  the 
thought  of  his  salvation,  the  idea  of  which  seems  an- 
nually to  be  a  perfectly  new  and  hitherto  unexpected 
one. 

By  day  the  chief  tumult  is  from  the  ordinary  press 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  63 

of  traffic,  with  the  unintelHgible  street-cries  of  itin- 
erant peddlers  offering  fish,  eggs,  and  divers  vege- 
tables, not  to  mention  fire-wood.  Nor  should  one  omit 
the  newsboys,  for  the  Athenian  has  abandoned  not  a 
whit  of  his  traditional  eagerness  to  see  or  to  hear 
some  new  thing,  and  has  settled  upon  the  daily  paper 
as  the  best  vehicle  for  purveying  to  that  taste.  Athens 
boasts  perhaps  half  a  dozen  journals,  fairly  good 
though  somewhat  given  to  exaggeration,  and  it  is  a 
poor  citizen  indeed  who  does  not  read  two  or  three 
of  them  as  he  drinks  his  coffee.  Early  morn  and  late 
evening  are  filled  with  the  cries  of  the  paper  boys 
ringing  clear  and  distinct  over  the  general  hubbub, 
and  of  all  the  street  sounds  their  calls  are  by  far  the 
easiest  to  understand. 

Most  fascinating  of  all  to  the  foreign  visitor  must 
always  be  the  narrower  and  less  ornate  streets  of  the 
old  quarter,  leading  off  Hermes  and  yEolus  streets, 
and  paramount  in  attractiveness  the  little  narrow 
lane  of  the  red  shoes,  which  is  a  perfect  bazaar.  It  is 
a  mere  alley,  lined  from  end  to  end  with  small  open 
booths,  or  shops,  and  devoted  almost  exclusively  to 
the  sale  of  shoes,  mostly  of  red  leather  and  provided 
with  red  pompons,  though  soft,  white  leather  boots 
are  also  to  be  had,  and  to  the  dealing  in  embroidered 
bags,  coats,  pouches,  belts,  and  the  like.  The  stock  in 
trade  of  each  is  very  similar  to  that  of  every  neighbor, 


64     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

and  the  effect  of  the  tout  ensemble  is  highly  curious 
and  striking.  To  venture  there  once  is  to  insure  fre- 
quent visits,  and  one  is  absolutely  certain  sooner  or 
later  to  buy.  The  wares  seem  rather  Turkish  than 
Greek  in  character.  Of  course,  patience  and  tact  are 
needful  to  enable  one  to  avoid  outrageous  extortion. 
Nothing  would  surprise  a  shoe-lane  dealer  more,  in 
all  probability,  than  to  find  a  foreigner  willing  and 
ready  to  accept  his  initial  price  as  final.  Chaffering  is 
the  order  of  the  day,  and  after  a  sufficient  amount  of 
advancing  and  retreating,  the  intending  purchaser  is 
sure  to  succumb  and  return  laden  with  souvenirs, 
from  the  inexpensive  little  embroidered  bags  to  the 
coats  heavy  with  gold  lace,  which  are  the  festal  gear 
of  the  peasant  girls.  The  latter  garments  are  mostly 
second-hand,  and  generally  show  the  blemishes  due 
to  actual  use.  They  are  sleeveless  over-garments 
made  of  heavy  felt  but  gay  with  red  and  green  cloth, 
on  which,  as  a  border,  gold  braid  and  tracery  have 
been  lavished  without  stint  until  they  are  splendid 
to  see.  Needless  to  say,  they  are  the  most  expen- 
sive things  in  shoe  lane.  The  process  of  bargaining 
between  one  who  speaks  no  English  and  one  who 
speaks  no  Greek  is  naturally  largely  a  matter  of 
dumb  show,  although  the  ever-ready  pad  and  pencil 
figure  in  it.  Madame  looks  inquiringly  up  from  a 
handsome  Greek  coat,  and  is  told  by  the  pad  that  the 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  65 

price  is  50  drachmas.  Her  face  falls  ;  she  says  as 
plainly  as  words  could  say  it  that  she  is  very  sorry, 
but  it  is  out  of  the  question.  She  turns  and  approaches 
the  door.  "  Madame  !  madame  I "  She  turns  back, 
and  the  pad,  bearing  the  legend  45,  is  shoved  toward 
her.  Again  the  retreat,  and  once  more  the  summons 
to  return  and  see  a  new  and  still  lower  price.  Event- 
ually the  blank  paper  is  passed  to  "  madame,"  and 
she  writes  thereon  a  price  of  her  own  —  inevitably  too 
low.  Finally,  however,  the  product  of  the  extremes 
produces  the  Aristotelian  golden  mean,  and  the  title 
passes.  Indeed,  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  mer- 
chant will  inform  you  of  an  outrageous  price  and 
add  with  shameless  haste,  "  What  will  you  give  ? " 
Experience  will  soon  teach  the  purchaser  that  the 
easiest  way  to  secure  reasonable  prices  is  to  make  a 
lump  sum  for  several  articles  at  a  single  sale. 

Shoe  lane,  for  all  its  narrowness  and  business,  is  far 
from  squalid,  and  is  remarkably  clean  and  sweet.  In 
this  it  differs  from  the  market  district  farther  along, 
where  vegetables,  lambs,  pigs,  chickens,  and  other 
viands  are  offered  for  sale.  The  sight  is  interesting, 
but  its  olfactory  appeal  is  stronger  than  the  ocular. 
One  need  not  venture  there,  however,  to  see  the 
wayside  cook  at  his  work  of  roasting  a  whole  sheep 
on  the  curb.  Even  the  business  streets  up-town  often 
show  this  spectacle.    The  stove  is  a  mere  sheet-iron 


66     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

chest  without  a  cover,  and  containing  a  slow  fire  of 
charcoal.  Over  this  on  an  iron  spit,  which  is  thrust 
through  the  lamb  from  end  to  end,  the  roast  is 
slowly  turning,  legs,  ribs,  head,  eyes,  and  all,  the 
motive  power  being  a  little  boy.  From  this  primitive 
establishment  cooked  meat  may  be  bought,  as  in  the 
days  of  Socrates,  either  to  be  taken  home,  or  to  be 
eaten  in  some  corner  by  the  Athenian  quick-lunch 
devotee.  Farther  along  in  the  old  quarter,  not  far 
from  the  Monastiri  Station  of  the  Piraeus  Line,  is  the 
street  of  the  coppersmiths,  heralded  from  afar  by 
the  noise  of  its  hammers.  By  all  the  rules  of  appro- 
priateness this  should  be  the  street  of  Hephaistos.  In 
the  gathering  dusk,  especially,  this  is  an  interesting 
place  to  wander  through,  for  the  forge  fires  in  the 
dark  little  shops  gleam  brightly  in  the  increasing 
darkness,  while  the  busy  hammers  ply  far  into  the 
evening.  It  is  the  tinkers'  chorus  and  the  armorer's 
song  rolled  into  one.  Here  one  buys  the  cofi[ee-mills 
and  the  coffee-pots  used  in  concocting  the  Turkish 
coffee  peculiar  to  the  East,  and  any  visitor  who  learns 
to  like  coffee  thus  made  will  do  well  to  secure  both 
utensils,  since  the  process  is  simple  and  the  drink  can 
easily  be  made  at  home.  The  coffee-pots  themselves 
are  little  brass  or  copper  dippers,  of  varying  sizes  ; 
and  the  mills  are  cylinders  of  brass  with  arrangements 
for  pulverizing  the  coffee  beans  to  a  fine  powder. 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  67 

This  powder,  in  the  proportion  of  about  a  teaspoonful 
to  a  cup,  is  put  into  the  dipper  with  an  equal  quantity 
of  sugar.  Boiling-  water  is  added,  and  the  mixture  set 
on  the  fire  until  it  "  boils  up."  This  is  repeated  three 
times  before  pouring  ofT  into  cups,  the  coffee  being 
vigorously  stirred  or  beaten  to  a  froth  between  the 
several  boilings.  At  the  end  it  is  a  thick  and  syrup- 
like liquid,  astonishingly  devoid  of  the  insomnia- 
producing  qualities  commonly  attributed  to  coffee  by 
the  makers  of  American  "substitutes."  In  any  event 
the  long-handled  copper  pots  and  the  mills  for  grind- 
ing are  quaint  and  interesting  to  possess.  At  the 
coffee-houses  the  practice  is  generally  to  bring  the 
coffee  on  in  its  little  individual  pot,  to  be  poured  out 
by  the  patron  himself.  It  is  always  accompanied  by 
a  huge  glass  of  rather  dubious  drinking  water  and 
often  by  a  bit  of  loukoumi,  which  the  Greek  esteems 
as  furnishing  a  thirst,  or  by  a  handful  of  salty  pis- 
tachio nuts,  equally  efficacious  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  consumption  of  cofTee  by  the  Greek  nation  is 
stupendous.  Possibly  it  is  harmful,  too.  But  in  any 
event  it  cheers  without  inebriating,  and  a  drunken 
Greek  is  a  rare  sight  indeed. 

Walking  homeward  in  the  dusk  of  evening  after  a 
sunset  on  the  Acropolis,  one  is  sure  to  pass  many  out- 
of-door  stoves  set  close  to  the  entrances  of  humbler 
houses  and  stuffed  with  light  wood  which  is  blazing 


68     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

cheerily  in  preparation  of  the  evening  meal,  the  glow 
and  the  aromatic  wood-smoke  adding  to  the  charm 
of  the  scene.  Small  shops,  in  the  windows  of  which 
stand  fresh-made  bowls  of  giaourti  (ya-o6r-ti),  are  also 
to  be  seen,  calling  attention  to  that  favorite  Athenian 
delicacy,  very  popular  as  a  dessert  and  not  unlikely 
to  please  the  palate  of  those  not  to  the  manner  born. 
The  giaourti  is  a  sort  of  "  junket,"  or  thick  curd  of 
goat's  milk,  possessing  a  sour  or  acid  taste.  It  is  best 
eaten  with  an  equal  quantity  of  sugar,  which  ren- 
ders the  taste  far  from  disagreeable.  As  for  the  other 
common  foods  of  the  natives,  doubtless  the  lamb 
comes  nearest  to  being  the  chief  national  dish,  while 
chickens  and  eggs  are  every-day  features  of  many  a 
table.  Unless  one  is  far  from  the  congested  haunts 
of  men,  the  food  problem  is  not  a  serious  one.  That 
a  visitor  would  find  it  rather  hard  to  live  long  on  the 
ordinary  native  cookery,  however,  is  no  doubt  true  ; 
but  fortunately  there  is  little  need  to  make  the  experi- 
ment. One  other  native  dish  deserves  mention,  in 
passing,  and  that  is  the  "  pilaffi,"  or  "pilaff,"  which 
is  rice  covered  with  a  rich  meat  gravy,  and  which 
almost  any  foreigner  will  appreciate  as  a  palatable 
article  of  food. 

Of  the  ruins  and  museums  of  Athens,  it  is  necessary 
to  speak  in  detail  in  another  chapter.  Of  the  modern 
city  and  its  many  oddities,  it  is  enough  to  deal  here. 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  69 

Rambles  through  the  town  in  any  direction  are  sure  to 
prove  delightful,  not  only  in  the  older  quarter  which 
we  have  been  considering,  but  through  the  more  pre- 
tentious modern  streets  as  well,  with  their  excellent 
shops,  their  pseudo-classic  architecture,  and  their 
constant  glimpses  of  gardens  or  of  distant  ruined 
temples.  Occasionally  the  classic  style  of  building  rises 
to  something  really  fine,  as  in  the  case  of  the  univer- 
sity buildings,  the  polytechnic  school,  or  the  national 
museum  itself.  The  local  churches  are  by  no  means 
beautiful,  however.  Indeed  the  ordinary  Greek  church 
makes  no  pretension  to  outward  attractiveness,  such 
as  the  cathedrals  and  minor  churches  of  the  Roman 
faith  possess.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  of  the 
Athenian  houses  of  worship  is  the  little  brown  struc- 
ture which  has  been  allowed  to  remain  in  the  midst 
of  Hermes  Street,  recalling  the  situation  of  St.  Clement 
Danes,  or  St.  Mary  le  Strand  in  London.  It  is  a  squat 
Byzantine  edifice,  not  beautiful,  but  evidently  old, 
and  a  familiar  sight  of  the  city.  Within,  the  Greek 
churches  are  quite  different  in  arrangement  from  the 
Roman.  At  the  entrance  to  the  altar  space  there  is 
always  a  high  screen,  pierced  by  a  door  leading  to 
the  altar  itself,  and  used  only  by  the  officiating  priest. 
The  altar  screen,  or  "  iconastasis,"  is  richly  adorned 
as  a  rule  with  embossed  work,  and  the  "  icons,"  or 
holy  pictures,  are  generally  painted  faces  set  in  raised 


70     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

silver-gilt  frames,  which  supply  the  figure  and  robes 
of  the  saints,  only  the  facial  features  being  in  pigment. 
Images  are  not  allowed  in  the  Orthodox  worship,  but 
the  relief  employed  to  embellish  the  faces  in  the  icons 
goes  far  to  simulate  imagery. 

The  residential  architecture  of  the  city  finds  its 
best  exemplification  in  the  splendid  marble  mansions 
of  the  princes  of  the  royal  house,  which  are  really 
fine,  and  which  are  surrounded  by  attractive  grounds 
and  gardens.  The  palace  of  the  king  is  far  less  at- 
tractive, being  a  huge  and  barn-like  structure  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  relieved  from  utter  barrenness  only 
by  a  very  good  classic  portico.  But  nothing  could 
be  lovelier  than  the  deep  dells  of  the  palace  gar- 
dens, which  form  a  magnificent  park  well  deserving 
the  classic  name  of  a  TrapaSao-os,  with  its  jungle  of 
flowers,  shrubs,  and  magnificent  trees  —  the  latter  a 
welcome  sight  in  treeless  Attica. 

One  cannot  pass  from  the  subject  of  modern  Athens 
without  mentioning  the  soldiery,  for  the  soldiers  are 
everywhere,  in  all  degrees  of  rank  and  magnificence 
of  dress,  from  the  humble  private  to  the  glittering 
and  altogether  gorgeous  generalissimo.  The  uni- 
forms are  of  a  variety  that  would  put  to  blush  the 
variegated  equipment  of  the  famous  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery  Company  of  Boston.  These 
manifold  uniforms  have    their  proper  signification, 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  71 

however,  and  they  are  undeniably  handsome.  If  the 
Greek  soldiers  could  only  fight  as  well  as  they  look, 
what  could  restrain  the  modern  Athenian  empire  ? 
The  army  clothes  are  admirably  designed  with  an  eye 
to  fit  and  color,  and  the  men  carry  themselves  with 
admirable  military  hauteur.  Most  picturesque  of  all 
are  the  king's  body-guard,  with  their  magnificent 
physique  and  national  dress.  They  are  big,  erect  fel- 
lows, clad  in  the  short  fustanella  skirts  of  the  ancient 
regime,  the  tight-fitting  leggings,  the  pomponed 
shoes,  the  dark  over-jacket,  and  the  fez.  These  are  the 
only  troops  that  wear  the  old-time  garb  of  the  Greek. 
But  the  dress  is  a  familiar  sight  in  the  outside  country 
districts,  often  worn  by  well-to-do  peasants,  and  still 
regarded  as  the  national  dress  despite  the  general 
prevalence  of  ordinary  European  clothes. 

It  remains  to  speak  briefly  of  the  national  money, 
for  that  is  a  subject  the  visitor  cannot  avoid.  The 
drachma,  which  corresponds  to  the  franc,  is  a  peculiar 
thing.  If  one  means  the  metal  drachma,  of  silver,  it 
is  simple  enough.  It  circulates  at  par  with  the  franc. 
But  the  paper  drachma  varies  in  value  from  day  to 
day  at  the  behest  of  private  speculation,  and  is  almost 
never  at  par.  I  have  experienced  variations  of  it  from 
a  value  of  fourteen  cents  to  eighteen.  In  small  trans- 
actions, when  the  paper  drachma  is  high,  the  difter- 
ence  is  negligible.  When  it  is  low  in  value,   or  in 


72     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

large  amounts,  it  is  highly  appreciable.  The  fluctua- 
tion of  this  money  is  the  reason  for  the  pads  and 
pencils  in  the  shops,  for  it  is  only  by  constant  multi- 
plication or  division  that  the  merchant  is  able  to 
translate  prices  from  francs  into  drachmas  or  vice 
versa,  as  occasion  requires.  Naturally  when  the 
drachma  is  worth  only  fourteen  cents,  the  unsuspect- 
ing visitor  is  liable  to  pay  more  than  he  should,  if 
assuming  that  a  franc  and  a  drachma  are  synony- 
mous terms.  In  such  a  case  a  paper  bill  requires  a 
considerable  addition  of  copper  lepta  to  make  it 
equal  the  metal  drachma  or  the  French  franc.  The 
difference  in  value  from  day  to  day  may  be  learned 
from  the  newspapers.  Most  bargains  are  made  in 
francs,  and  the  French  money,  both  gold  and  silver, 
is  freely  used.  Nevertheless,  the  local  paper  money  is 
very  useful,  and  it  merely  requires  a  little  care  in  the 
use.  Particularly  is  it  desirable  to  know  the  status  of 
the  drachma  in  securing  cash  on  a  letter  of  credit  or 
on  a  traveler's  cheque,  in  order  that  one  may  obtain 
the  proper  amount  and  not  content  himself  with  an 
inferior  sum  in  paper;  for  although  the  principal 
banks  may  be  relied  upon  as  a  rule  to  be  honest, 
individual  clerks  may  not  be  proof  against  the  temp- 
tation to  impose  upon  the  ignorant  and  pocket  the 
difference.  I  would  advise  the  use  of  the  Ionian  Bank 
as  far  as  possible,  rather  than  the  tourist  agencies,  for 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  73 

the  latter  often  extort  money  quite  without  warrant, 
on  the  plea  of  needful  stamps  or  fees  for  "  accommo- 
dation," that  the  bank  does  not  require.  Little  trouble 
will  be  found  to  exist  in  the  way  of  false  coin  —  far 
less  than  in  Italy.  The  one  difficulty  is  to  follow  the 
paper  drachma  up  and  down,  and  not  be  mulcted  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent  in  the  exchange  of  silver  for 
paper.  The  copper  coins,  which  are  either  the  five  or 
ten  lepta  pieces,  occasion  no  trouble,  being  like  the 
Italian  centesimi  or  English  pence  and  ha'  pennies. 

One  not  uncommon  sight  to  be  met  with  in  Athe- 
nian streets  is  the  funeral  procession  —  a  sight  which 
is  liable  at  first  to  give  the  unaccustomed  witness 
a  serious  shock,  because  of  the  custom  of  carrying  the 
dead  uncoffined  through  the  city.  The  cofifin  and  its 
cover  are  borne  at  the  head  of  the  procession,  as 
a  rule,  while  the  body  of  the  deceased,  in  an  open 
hearse,  rides  jokingly  along  in  the  middle  of  the  cor- 
tege. To  those  not  used  to  this  method  of  honoring 
the  dead,  the  exposure  of  the  face  to  the  sight  of 
every  passer-by  must  seem  incongruous  and  revolt- 
ing. But  it  is  the  custom  of  the  place,  and  the  passing 
of  a  funeral  causes  no  apparent  concern  to  those  who 
calmly  view  the  passing  corpse  from  the  chairs  where 
they  sip  their  coffee,  or  idly  finger  their  strings  of 
beads.  The  beads  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  hand 
of  nearly  every  native  have  no  religious  significance, 


74     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

as  might  be  thought  at  first  sight,  but  are  simply  one 
of  the  innocuous  things  that  the  Hellene  finds  for  idle 
hands  to  do.  They  are  large  beads,  of  various  colors, 
though  the  strings  are  generally  uniform  in  them- 
selves, and  their  sole  function  is  to  furnish  something 
to  toy  with  while  talking,  or  while  doing  nothing  in 
particular.  There  is  a  sufficiency  of  loose  string  to 
give  some  play  to  the  beads,  and  they  become  a 
familiar  sight. 

Royalty  in  Greece  is  decidedly  democratic  in  its 
attitude.  King  George  and  his  sons  are  frequently 
to  be  seen  riding  about  town,  much  like  ordinary 
citizens.  Quite  characteristic  was  an  encounter  of  re- 
cent date,  in  which  an  American  gentleman  accosted 
one  whom  he  found  walking  in  the  palace  gardens 
with  the  inquiry  as  to  what  hour  would  be  the  best 
for  seeing  the  royal  children.  The  question  elicited 
mutual  interest  and  the  two  conversed  for  some  time, 
the  American  asking  with  much  curiosity  for  particu- 
lars of  the  household,  with  which  his  interlocutor 
professed  to  be  acquainted.  "What  of  the  queen?" 
he  inquired.  "  She 's  exceedingly  well  beloved,"  was 
the  reply.  "  She  is  a  woman  of  high  character  and 
fills  her  high  station  admirably."  "And  the  king?" 
"  Oh,  the  king !  I  regret  to  say  that  he  is  no  good. 
He  has  done  nothing  for  the  country.  He  tries  to 
give  no  offense  —  but  as  a  king  the  less  said  of  him 


ATHENS;  THE  MODERN  CITY  75 

the  better  !  "  Needless  to  say,  this  oracle  was  the 
king  himself.  Nobody  else  would  have  passed  so 
harsh  a  judgment.  King  George  I  has  been  reigning 
since  1863,  when  the  present  government,  with  the 
sponsorship  of  the  Christian  powers,  was  inaugurated. 
He  came  from  Denmark,  being  a  son  of  the  late  King 
Christian,  who  furnished  so  many  thrones  of  Europe 
with  acceptable  rulers  and  queens  from  his  numerous 
and  excellent  family,  so  that  the  king  is  not  himself  a 
Greek  at  all.  The  years  of  successful  rule  have  proved 
him  highly  acceptable  to  the  Athenians  and  their 
countrymen,  who  have  seen  their  land  regain  a  large 
measure  of  its  prosperity  and  their  chief  city  grow  to 
considerable  proportions  under  the  new  order.  The 
kingly  office  is  hereditary,  the  crown  prince  reaching 
his  majority  at  eighteen  years. 

Prince  Constantine,  the  heir  to  the  throne,  lives  on 
the  street  behind  the  palace  gardens,  and  has  a  fam- 
ily of  handsome  children.  Prince  George  is  com- 
missioner in  charge  of  Crete.  The  royal  family  has 
embraced  the  faith  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church. 


CHAPTER  V.     ANCIENT  ATHENS: 
THE  ACROPOLIS 


THE  visible  remains  of  the  ancient  city  of  Athens, 
as  distinguished  from  the  city  of  to-day,  lie 
mainly  to  the  south  and  west  of  the  Acropolis,  where 
are  to  be  seen  many  distinct  traces  of  the  classic 
town,  close  around  the  base  of  the  great  rock  and  the 
Hill  of  Mars.  How  far  the  ancient  city  had  extended 
around  to  the  eastward  can  only  be  conjectured  by 
the  layman,  for  there  exist  almost  no  remains  in  that 
direction  save  the  choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates 
and  the  ruins  of  the  temple  of  Olympian  Zeus ;  while 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  Acropolis,  although  it  is 
known  that  there  once  lay  the  agora,  or  market  place, 
little  is  left  but  some  porticoes  of  a  late,  if  not  of 
Roman,  date.  Not  being  bent  on  exact  archaeology, 
however,  it  is  not  for  us  here  to  speculate  much  over 
the  probable  sites  of  the  ancient  metes  and  bounds, 
the  location  of  the  fountain  of  nine  spouts  called 
"  Enneacrunus,"  nor  the  famous  spring  of  Callirrhoe, 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS     77 

which  furnish  fertile  ground  for  dissent  among  those 
skilled  in  the  art.  What  must  now  concern  us  most 
is  the  mass  of  visible  ruins,  which  provide  the  chief 
charm  of  the  city  to  every  visitor,  and  most  of  all  to 
those  possessed  of  the  desirable  historic  or  classical 
"background"  to  make  the  ruins  the  more  inter- 
esting. 

Despite  her  many  inglorious  vicissitudes,  Athens 
has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  retain  many  of  her  ancient 
structures  in  such  shape  that  even  to-day  a  very  good 
idea  is  to  be  had  of  their  magnificence  in  the  golden 
age  of  Hellenic  empire.  The  Greek  habit  of  building 
temples  and  fanes  in  high  places,  apart  from  the 
dwellings  of  men,  has  contributed  very  naturally  to 
the  preservation  of  much  that  might  otherwise  have 
been  lost.  The  chief  attractions  of  the  classic  city 
were  set  on  high,  and  the  degenerate  modern  town 
that  succeeded  the  ancient  capital  did  not  entirely 
swallow  them  up,  as  was  so  largely  the  case  at  Rome. 
To  be  sure,  the  Turks  did  invade  the  sacred  precincts 
of  the  Acropolis  with  their  mosques  and  their  muni- 
tions of  war,  and  the  latter  ruined  the  Parthenon 
beyond  hope  of  restoration  when  Morosini's  lament- 
able advisers  caused  the  Venetian  bomb  to  be  fired 
at  that  noble  edifice.  Local  vandalism  and  the  greed 
of  lime  burners  have  doubtless  destroyed  much.  But 
the  whole  course  of  these  depredations  has  failed  to 


78     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

remove  the  crowning  treasures  of  Athens,  and  the 
Acropolis  temples  are  still  the  inspiration  and  the 
despair  of  architects.  In  passing,  then,  to  a  more  de- 
tailed and  perhaps  superfluous  consideration  of  the 
monuments  surviving  from  the  ancient  city,  it  may- 
be remarked  that  the  visitor  will  find  more  of  the 
classic  remains  to  reward  and  delight  him  than  is 
the  case  at  Rome,  rich  as  that  eternal  city  is. 

The  Acropolis  is  naturally  the  great  focus  of  inter- 
est, not  only  for  what  remains  in  situ  on  its  top,  but 
because  of  many  remnants  of  buildings  that  cluster 
about  its  base.  The  rock  itself,  if  it  were  stripped  of 
every  building  and  devoid  of  every  memory,  would 
still  be  commanding  and  imposing,  alone  by  sheer 
force  of  its  height  and  steepness.  As  it  is,  with  its 
beetling  sides  made  the  more  precipitous  by  the  arti- 
fices of  Cimon  and  ancient  engineers,  whose  walls 
reveal  the  use  of  marble  column  drums  built  into  the 
fortifications  themselves,  it  is  doubly  impressive  for 
mere  inaccessibility.  Something  like  a  hundred  feet 
below  its  top  it  ceases  to  be  so  sheer,  and  spreads  out 
into  a  more  gradual  slope,  on  the  southern  expanses 
of  which  were  built  the  city's  theatres  and  a  precinct 
sacred  to  Asklepios.  Only  on  the  west,  however, 
was  the  crag  at  all  approachable,  and  on  that  side 
to-day  is  the  only  practicable  entrance  to  the  sacred 
precincts. 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  :  THE  ACROPOLIS     79 

A  more  magnificent  approach  it  would  be  hard  to 
conceive.  One  must  exempt  from  praise  the  so-called 
"  Beule  "  gate  at  the  very  entrance,  at  the  foot  of  the 
grand  staircase,  for  it  is  a  mere  late  patchwork  of 
marble  from  other  ancient  monuments,  and  is  in  every 
way  unworthy  of  comparison  with  the  majestic  Pro- 
pylaea  at  the  top.  It  takes  its  name  from  the  French 
explorer  who  unearthed  it.  As  for  its  claim  to  interest, 
it  must  found  that,  if  at  all,  on  the  identification  of  the 
stones  which  now  compose  it  with  the  more  ancient 
monument  of  some  choragic  victor.  Looking  up  the 
steep  incline  to  the  Propylsea,  or  fore  gate  of  the 
Acropolis,  the  Parthenon  is  completely  hid.  Nothing 
is  visible  from  this  point  but  the  walls  and  columns 
of  the  magnificent  gateway  itself,  designed  to  be  a 
worthy  prelude  to  the  architectural  glory  of  the  main 
temple  of  the  goddess.  The  architect  certainly  suc- 
ceeded admirably  in  achieving  the  desired  result. 
He  did  not  at  all  dwarf  or  belittle  his  chief  creation 
above,  yet  he  gave  it  a  most  admirable  setting.  Even 
to-day,  with  so  much  of  the  colonnade  of  the  Pro- 
pylsea in  ruins,  it  is  a  splendid  and  satisfying  ap- 
proach, not  only  when  seen  from  a  distance,  but  at 
close  range.  Not  alone  is  it  beautiful  in  and  of  itself, 
but  it  commands  from  its  platform  a  grand  view  of 
the  Attic  plain  below,  of  the  bay  of  Salamis  gleaming 
in  the  sun  beyond,  of  the  long  cape  running  down  to 


8o     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Sunium,  and  of  the  distant  mountains  of  the  Argolid, 
rolHng  like  billows  in  the  southwest  far  across  the 
gulf  and  beyond  ^gina.  To  pause  for  a  moment  on 
gaining  this  threshold  of  the  Acropolis  and  gaze  upon 
this  imposing  panorama  of  plain,  mountain,  and  sea, 
is  an  admirable  introduction  to  Greece, 

On  either  side  of  the  stairway  by  which  one  climbs 
to  the  Propylaea  are  buttresses  of  rock,  on  one  of 
which  stands  an  object  worthy  of  long  contemplation. 
At  the  right,  on  a  platform  leveled  from  the  solid 
rock,  stands  the  tiny  temple  of  Nike  Apteros  (the 
Wingless  Victory),  "restored"  it  is  true,  but  neverthe- 
less one  of  the  most  perfect  little  buildings  imaginable. 
At  one  time  entirely  removed  to  make  room  for  a 
Turkish  watch-tower,  it  has  been  re-created  by  care- 
ful hands  out  of  its  original  marbles ;  and  it  stands 
to-day,  as  it  stood  of  old,  on  its  narrow  parapet  beside 
the  grand  stairway  of  Athena.  The  process  of  rebuild- 
ing has  not,  indeed,  been  able  to  give  the  unbroken 
lines  of  the  old  temple.  The  stones  are  chipped  at 
the  corners  here  and  there,  and  there  are  places 
where  entirely  new  blocks  have  been  required.  But 
in  the  main  everything,  even  to  the  delicately  carved 
frieze  around  its  top,  is  in  place  ;  and  for  once  at  least 
the  oft-berated  "  restorer  "  of  ancient  buildings  has 
triumphed  and  has  silenced  all  his  critics.  The  rem- 
nants of  the  incomparable  carved  balustrade,  which 


ANCIENT  ATHENS:  THE  ACROPOLIS     8i 

once  served  as  a  railing  for  the  parapet,  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  small  museum  of  the  Acropolis,  reveal- 
ing the  extreme  grace  which  the  Greek  sculptors  had 
achieved  in  the  modeling  of  exquisite  figures  in  high 
relief.  The  slab,  particularly,  which  has  come  to  be 
known  as  "  Nike  binding  her  sandal "  seems  to  be 
the  favorite  of  all,  though  the  others,  even  in  their 
headless  and  armless  state,  are  scarcely  less  lovely. 

As  for  the  isolated  pedestal  on  the  other  side  of 
the  stairway,  known  as  the  "pedestal  of  Agrippa,"  it 
is  not  only  devoid  of  any  statue  to  give  it  continued 
excuse  for  being,  but  it  is  in  such  a  state  of  decrepi- 
tude as  to  cause  the  uncomfortable  thought  that  it  is 
about  to  fall,  and  seems  an  object  rather  for  removal 
than  for  perpetuation,  although  it  serves  to  balance 
the  effect  produced  by  the  Nike  bastion. 

Standing  on  the  Nike  platform,  the  visitor  finds  the 
noble  columns  of  the  Propylaea  towering  above  him 
close  at  hand.  These  Doric  pillars  give  one  for  the 
first  time  an  adequate  idea  of  the  perfection  to  which 
the  column  was  carried  by  Ictinus  and  the  builders 
and  architects  of  his  time ;  for  although  each  pillar  is 
built  up  drum  upon  drum,  it  is  still  true  in  many  cases 
that  the  joints  between  them  are  almost  invisible,  so 
perfect  are  they,  despite  the  lapse  of  ages  and  the 
ravages  of  war,  not  to  mention  the  frequent  earth- 
quake shocks  to  which  the  whole  region  has  been 


82     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

subjected.  Age  has  been  kind  also  to  the  Pentelic 
marble,  softening  its  original  whiteness  to  a  golden 
brown  without  destroying  its  exquisite  satin  texture. 
Nothing  more  charming  can  well  be  imagined  than 
the  contrast  of  the  blue  Athenian  sky  with  these  stately 
old  columns,  as  one  looks  outward  or  inward  through 
their  majestic  rows. 

The  rock  rises  sharply  as  one  passes  within  the  pre- 
cinct of  the  Acropolis,  and  the  surface  of  it  appears 
to  have  been  grooved  to  give  a  more  secure  footing 
to  pedestrians.  Stony  as  is  the  place,  it  still  affords 
soil  enough  to  support  a  growth  of  grasses  and  strug- 
gling bits  of  greenery  to  cradle  the  many  fallen  drums. 
But  one  has  eyes  only  for  the  Parthenon,  the  western 
front  of  which  now  appears  for  the  first  time  in  its 
full  effect.  From  its  western  end,  the  havoc  wrought 
in  its  midst  being  concealed,  the  Parthenon  appears 
almost  perfect.  The  pedimental  sculptures,  it  is  true, 
are  gone  save  for  a  fragment  or  two,  having  been 
carried  off  to  England.  But  the  massive  Doric  col- 
umns still  stand  in  an  unbroken  double  row  before 
one ;  the  walls  of  the  cella  appear  to  be  intact ;  the 
pediment  rises  almost  unbroken  above ;  frieze,  tri- 
glyphs,  and  metopes  remain  in  sufficient  degree  to 
give  an  idea  of  the  ancient  magnificence  of  the  shrine 
—  and  all  conspire  to  compel  instant  and  unstinted 
admiration.   Speculation  as  to  the  ethics  of  the  re- 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS    83 

moval  of  the  Parthenon  sculptures  by  Lord  Elgin 
has  become  an  academic  matter,  and  therefore  one 
quite  beyond  our  present  purpose.  Doubtless  to-day 
no  such  removal  would  be  countenanced  for  a  mo- 
ment. It  is  no  longer  possible  to  say,  as  former  critics 
have  said,  that  the  local  regard  for  the  treasures  of 
the  place  is  so  slight  as  to  endanger  their  safety.  The 
present  custodianship  of  the  priceless  relics  of  an- 
tiquity in  Athens  is  admirably  careful  and  satisfac- 
tory. If,  therefore,  Greece  had  only  come  into  her 
own  a  century  or  so  earlier  than  she  did,  the  famous 
sculptures  of  the  miraculous  birth  of  Athena,  spring- 
ing full  grown  from  the  head  of  Zeus,  and  the  colossal 
representation  of  the  strife  between  Athena  and  Posei- 
don for  possession  of  the  Attic  land,  might  still  adorn 
as  of  yore  the  eastern  and  western  gables  of  the  great 
temple ;  or  if  not  that,  might  still  be  seen  in  the  very 
excellent  museum  at  the  other  end  of  the  city.  It  is 
enough  for  us  to  know,  however,  that  they  are  not  in 
Athens  but  in  London,  and  that  there  is  no  proba- 
bility they  will  ever  return  to  Greek  soil ;  and  to  know, 
also,  that  had  they  not  been  removed  as  they  were, 
they  might  never  have  been  preserved  at  all.  That 
is  the  one  comfortable  state  of  mind  in  which  to  view 
the  vacant  pediments  of  the  Parthenon.  To  work  up 
a  Byronic  frenzy  over  what  cannot  be  helped,  and 
may,  after  all,  be  for  the  best,  is  of  no  benefit. 


84    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Writers  on  Athens  have  often  called  attention  to 
the  curved  stylobate  of  the  Parthenon  —  a  feature 
which  is  by  no  means  confined  to  this  temple,  but 
which  is  to  be  noticed  in  almost  every  considerable 
ruin  of  the  sort.  The  base  of  the  building  curves  suf- 
ficiently to  make  the  device  visible,  rising  from  either 
end  to  the  centre  of  the  sides ;  and  the  curious  may 
easily  prove  it  by  placing  a  hat  at  one  extremity  and 
trying  to  see  it  from  the  other,  sighting  along  the 
line  of  the  basic  stones.  The  curve  was  necessary  to 
cure  an  optical  defect,  for  a  straight  or  level  base 
would  have  produced  the  illusion  of  a  decided  sag- 
ging Similarly  it  has  long  been  recognized  that  the 
columns  must  swell  at  the  middle  drums,  lest  they 
appear  to  the  eye  to  be  concaved.  In  fact,  as  Professor 
Gardner  has  pointed  out,  there  is  actually  hardly  a 
really  straight  line  in  the  Parthenon  —  yet  the  effect 
is  of  absolute  straightness  everywhere. 

Obviously  this  curvature  of  the  base,  slight  though 
it  was,  imposed  some  engineering  problems  of  no  in- 
considerable nature  when  it  came  to  setting  the  col- 
umn drums ;  for  the  columns  must  stand  erect,  and 
the  bottom  sections  must  be  so  devised  as  to  meet 
the  configuration  of  the  convex  stylobate.  The  cor- 
ner columns,  being  set  on  a  base  that  curved  in  both 
directions,  must  have  been  more  difficult  still  to  deal 
with.    But  the  problem  was  solved  successfully,  and 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS     85 

the  result  of  this  cunningly  contrived  structure  was  a 
temple  that  comes  as  near  architectural  perfection  as 
earthly  artisans  are  ever  likely  to  attain.  The  columns 
were  set  up  in  an  unfluted  state,  the  fluting  being 
added  after  the  pillar  was  complete.  Each  drum  is  said 
to  have  been  rotated  upon  its  lower  fellow  until  the 
joint  became  so  exact  as  to  be  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses indistinguishable.  In  the  centre  of  the  fallen 
drums  will  be  seen  always  a  square  hole,  used  to 
contain  a  peg  of  wood  designed  to  hold  the  finished 
sections  immovable,  and  in  many  cases  this  wooden 
plug  has  been  found  intact.  All  along  the  sides  of  the 
Parthenon,  lying  on  the  ground  as  they  fell,  are  to 
be  seen  the  fallen  drums  that  once  composed  the  col- 
umns of  the  sides,  but  which  were  blown  out  of  posi- 
tion by  the  bomb  from  the  Venetian  fleet  of  Admiral 
Morosini.  They  lie  like  fallen  heaps  of  dominoes  or 
children's  building  blocks,  and  the  entire  centre  of 
the  temple  is  a  gaping  void.  Here  and  there  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  reconstruct  the  fallen  col- 
umns from  the  original  portions,  but  the  result  is  by 
no  means  reassuring  and  seems  not  to  justify  the 
further,  prosecution  of  the  task.  Better  a  ruined  Par- 
thenon than  an  obvious  patchwork.  The  few  restored 
columns  are  quite  devoid  of  that  homogeneity  that 
marks  the  extant  originals,  and  their  joints  are  pain- 
fully felt,  being  chipped  and  uneven,  where  the  old 


86     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

are  all  but  imperceptible ;  so  that  the  whole  effect  is 
of  insecurity  and  lack  of  perfection  entirely  out  of 
harmony  with  the  Parthenon  itself.  Opinions,  how- 
ever, differ.  Some  still  do  advocate  the  rebuilding  of 
the  temple  rather  than  leave  the  drums,  seemingly  so 
perfect  still,  lying  as  they  now  are  amid  the  grasses 
of  the  Acropolis.  It  is  one  of  those  questions  of  taste 
on  which  debate  is  traditionally  idle  and  purposeless. 
For  those  who  must  demand  restorations  other  than 
those  constructed  by  the  mind's  eye,  there  are  models 
and  drawings  enough  extant,  and  some  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  Acropolis  Museum.  Most  interesting  of  the 
attempts  are  doubtless  the  speculations  as  to  the 
pedimental  sculptures,  the  remains  of  which  are  in 
the  British  Museum,  but  which  are  so  fragmentary 
and  so  ill  placed  in  their  new  home  that  much  of  the 
original  grouping  is  matter  for  conjecture.  With  the 
aid  of  drawings  made  by  a  visitor  long  years  ago, 
before  Lord  Elgin  had  thought  of  tearing  them  down, 
the  two  great  pediments  have  been  ingeniously  recon- 
structed in  miniature,  showing  a  multitude  of  figures 
attending  on  the  birth  of  the  city's  tutelary  goddess, 
as  she  sprang  full  armed  from  the  head  of  Zeus  as- 
sisted by  the  blow  of  Hephaistos's  hammer,  or  the 
concourse  of  deities  that  umpired  the  contest  between 
Athena  and  Poseidon  for  the  land.  The  Acropolis 
Museum  has  only  casts   of  the  Elgin  marbles,  but 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS     87 

there  is  still  to  be  seen  a  good  proportion  of  the  origi- 
nal frieze.  It  would  be  out  of  place  in  any  such  work 
as  this  to  be  drawn  into  anything  like  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  these  famous  sculptures,  the  subjects  of  a 
vast  volume  of  available  literature  already  and  sources 
of  a  considerable  volume  also  of  controversial  writ- 
ing involving  conflicts  of  the  highest  authority.  It 
must  therefore  suffice  to  refer  the  reader  interested  in 
the  detailed  story  of  the  Parthenon,  its  external  adorn- 
ment, its  huge  gold-and-ivory  statue  within,  and  the 
great  Panathenaic  festival  which  its  frieze  portrayed, 
to  any  one  of  those  learned  authors  who  have  written 
of  all  these  things  so  copiously  and  clearly  —  doubt- 
less none  more  so  than  Dr.  Ernest  Gardner  in  his 
admirably  lucid  and  readable  "Ancient  Athens,"  or  in 
his  "Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture,"  without  which 
no  one  should  visit  the  museum  in  that  city. 

One  must  remember  that  the  Parthenon  and  the 
other  features  of  the  Acropolis  are  monuments  of 
the  age  of  Pericles,  and  not  of  an  earlier  da}^.  The 
Persians  who  invaded  Greece  in  480  B.  C.  succeeded 
in  obtaining  possession  of  Athens  and  of  the  whole 
Attic  plain,  the  inhabitants  fleeing  to  the  island  of 
Salamis.  The  hordes  of  barbarians  brought  in  by 
Xerxes  were  opposed  by  a  very  few  of  the  citizens, 
some  of  whom  erected  a  stockade  around  the  Acro- 
polis, thinking  that  thereby  they  satisfied  the  oracle 


88     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

which  had  promised  the  city  salvation  through  the 
impregnabiUty  of  its  "Wooden  Walls."  The  Persians 
massed  their  forces  on  Mars  Hill,  just  west  of  the 
larger  rock,  and  a  hot  fight  took  place,  the  invaders 
attempting  to  fire  the  stockade  by  means  of  arrows 
carrying  burning  tow,  while  the  besieged  made  use 
of  round  stones  with  considerable  effect.  Eventually 
the  enemy  discovered  an  unsuspected  means  of  ac- 
cess to  the  citadel  and  took  it  by  storm,  after  which 
they  burned  its  temples  and  left  it  a  sorry  ruin.  The 
rest  of  the  Athenians  with  the  allied  navy  at  Salamis 
repulsed  the  Persian  fleet,  and  Xerxes,  disgusted, 
withdrew,  —  despite  the  fact  that  it  would  seem  to 
have  been  quite  possible  for  him  to  pursue  his  suc- 
cesses on  land.  It  left  Athens  a  waste,  but  on  that 
waste  grew  up  a  city  that  for  architectural  beauty  has 
never,  in  all  probability,  been  surpassed.  The  reac- 
tion from  the  horrors  of  war  gave  us  the  Parthenon, 
the  Propylsea,  and  the  Erechtheum,  all  dating,  per- 
haps, from  the  fifth  century  before  Christ. 

The  Erechtheum,  while  properly  entitled  to  the 
epithet  "  elegant "  as  a  building,  seems  decidedly  less 
a  favorite  than  the  Parthenon.  It  is  extremely  beau- 
tiful, no  doubt,  in  a  delicate  and  elaborate  way,  and 
its  ornamentation  is  certainly  of  a  high  order.  Unlike 
the  Parthenon,  it  is  not  surrounded  by  a  colonnade, 
but  possesses  pillars  only  in  its  several  porticoes.  The 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS     89 

columns  are  not  Doric,  but  Ionic.  As  for  its  general 
plan,  it  is  so  complicated  and  devoted  to  so  many 
obscure  purposes  that  the  lay  visitor  doubtless  will 
find  it  an  extremely  difficult  place  to  understand. 
There  appear  to  have  been  at  least  three  precincts 
involved  in  it,  and  the  name  it  bears  is  the  ancient 
one,  given  it  because  in  part  it  was  a  temple  of 
Erechtheus.  That  deity  was  of  the  demi-god  type. 
He  was  an  ancient  Attic  hero,  who  had  received  apo- 
theosis and  become  highly  esteemed,  doubtless  be- 
cause in  part  he  had  instituted  the  worship  of  Athena 
in  the  city  and  had  devised  the  celebrated  Panathenaic 
festival.  Tradition  says  that  he  was  brought  up  by 
Athena  herself,  and  that  she  intrusted  him  as  a  babe, 
secreted  in  a  chest,  to  the  daughters  of  Cecrops  to 
guard.  They  were  enjoined  not  to  open  the  chest, 
but  being  overcome  with  curiosity  they  disobeyed, 
and  discovered  the  babe  entwined  with  serpents  — 
whereat,  terrified  beyond  measure,  they  rushed  to  the 
steeper  part  of  the  Acropolis  and  threw  themselves 
down  from  the  rock.  Therein  they  were  not  alone,  for 
it  is  also  related  that  the  father  of  Theseus  had  also 
thrown  himself  dowm  from  this  eminence  in  despair, 
because  he  beheld  his  son's  ship  returning  from  Crete 
with  black  sails,  imagining  therefrom  that  the  Mino- 
taur had  triumphed  over  his  heroic  son,  when  the 
reverse  was  the  fact. 


90    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

The  complicated  character  of  the  Erechtheum  is 
further  emphasized  by  the  tact  that  a  portion  of  it  was 
supposed  to  shelter  the  gash  made  by  Poseidon  with 
his  trident  when  he  was  contending  with  Athena  for 
the  land,  as  well  as  the  olive  tree  that  Athena  caused 
to  grow  out  of  the  rock.  The  two  relics  were  natu- 
rally held  in  veneration,  and  it  was  the  story  that  in 
the  cleft  made  by  the  trident  there  was  a  salt  spring, 
or  "  sea  "  as  Herodotus  calls  it,  which  gave  forth  to 
the  ear  a  murmuring  like  that  of  the  ocean.  The  cleft 
is  still  there.  The  olive  tree,  unfortunately,  has  disap- 
peared. It  was  there  when  the  Persian  horde  came  to 
Athens,  however,  if  we  may  believe  Herodotus ;  and 
tradition  says  that  after  the  invaders  had  burned  the 
Acropolis  over,  the  tree-stump  immediately  put  forth 
a  shoot  which  was  in  length  a  cubit,  as  a  sign  that 
the  deity  had  not  abandoned  the  city.  It  had  been 
the  custom  of  the  place  to  deposit  a  cake  of  honey 
at  stated  intervals  in  the  temple  door  for  the  food  of 
the  sacred  serpents ;  and  when,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Persians,  this  cake  remained  untouched,  the  inhab- 
itants were  convinced  that  even  the  god  had  left  the 
Acropolis  and  that  naught  remained  but  ruin.  The  re- 
newed and  miraculous  life  of  the  olive  tree  dispelled 
this  error.  The  Erechtheum  in  part  overlaps  the 
oldest  precinct  sacred  to  Athena,  where  stood  an 
earlier  temple  supposed  to  have  contained  the  sacred 


ANCIENT  ATHENS:  THE  ACROPOLIS     91 

image  of  the  goddess,  made  of  wood,  which  came 
down  from  heaven.  For  exact  and  detailed  descrip- 
tions of  the  Erechtheum  and  its  uses,  the  reader  must 
once  again  turn  to  the  archaeologists.  As  for  its  ex- 
ternal features,  the  most  famous  of  all  is  unques- 
tionably the  caryatid  portico,  in  which  the  roof  is 
borne  up  by  a  row  of  graceful,  but  undeniably  sturdy, 
marble  maidens.  The  use  of  the  caryatid,  always  un- 
natural, is  here  rather  successful  on  the  whole,  for  the 
beholder  derives  no  sensation  that  the  maidens  are 
restive  under  the  weight  imposed  on  them.  They  are 
entirely  free  from  any  indictment  of  grotesqueness. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  questionable  whether  the  portico  is 
altogether  pleasing.  One  of  the  figures  is,  as  is  well 
known,  a  reproduction  of  the  one  Lord  Elgin  carried 
away  to  the  British  Museum,  but  the  remainder  of 
the  six  are  the  original  members. 

The  Acropolis  Museum  serves  to  house  a  great 
many  interesting  fragments  found  on  the  spot,  in- 
cluding a  host  of  archaic  representations  of  Athena, 
still  bearing  ample  traces  of  the  paint  which  the 
Greeks  used  so  lavishly  on  their  marble  statues. 
This  use  of  pigment  might  seem  to  have  been  a 
very  doubtful  exhibition  of  taste,  as  judged  by  mod- 
ern standards,  not  only  in  its  application  to  statues, 
but  in  the  decoration  of  marble  temples  as  well.  It  is 
hard  for  us  to-day,  accustomed  to  pure  v/hite  marble 


I 


92     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

sculpture,  to  imagine  any  added  beauty  from  paint- 
ing the  hair,  eyes,  and  garments  of  a  statue  ;  or  to 
conceive  how  the  polychromy  so  commonly  made 
use  of  in  bedecking  such  masterpieces  as  the  Par- 
thenon could  have  been  anything  but  a  blemish. 
Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  the  Greeks  did  it,  and  that 
they  were  in  all  else  so  consummately  tasteful,  makes 
it  entirely  probable  that  their  finished  statues  and 
edifices  thus  adorned  were  perfectly  congruous  — 
especially  under  that  brilliant  sky  and  surrounded 
by  so  many  brilliant  costumes.  From  the  surviving 
multitude  of  statues  of  Athena,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Greeks  conceived  her  as  a  woman  of  majestic  mien, 
rather  almond-eyed,  and  possessed  of  abundant  braids 
of  the  ruddy  hair  later  vouchsafed  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. The  more  rudimentary  figure  of  the  "  Typhon," 
also  preserved  in  this  museum,  which  was  doubtless 
a  pedimental  sculpture  from  some  earlier  acropolitan 
temple,  bears  abundant  traces  of  paint  on  its  body 
and  on  the  beards  of  its  triple  head.  It  is  too  gro- 
tesque to  furnish  much  of  an  idea  of  the  use  of  paint 
on  such  statues  as  the  great  masters  later  produced. 
The  remnants  of  the  Parthenon  frieze  give  little  or 
no  trace  of  any  of  the  blue  background,  such  as  was 
commonly  laid  on  to  bring  out  the  figures  carved 
on  such  ornaments,  nor  are  there  any  traces  remain- 
ing of  polychrome  decoration  on  the  Parthenon  itself. 


ANCIENT  ATHENS:  THE  ACROPOLIS    93 

The  Acropolis,  of  course,  has  not  escaped  the 
common  fate  of  all  similar  celebrated  places — that  of 
being  "  done  "  now  and  then  by  parties  of  tourists  in 
absurdly  hasty  fashion,  that  to  the  lover  of  the  spot 
seems  little  less  than  sacrilege.  It  is  no  infrequent 
sight  to  see  a  body  of  men  and  women  numbering 
from  a  dozen  to  over  a  hundred,  in  the  keeping  of 
a  voluble  courier,  scampering  up  the  steps  of  the 
Propylsea,  over  the  summit,  through  the  two  temples, 
in  and  out  of  the  museum,  and  down  again,  amply 
satisfied  with  having  spent  a  half  hour  or  even  less 
among  those  immortal  ruins,  and  prepared  to  tell 
about  it  for  the  rest  of  their  days.  It  is  a  pity,  as  it 
always  is,  to  see  a  wonder  of  the  world  so  cavalierly 
treated.  Still,  one  hesitates  to  say  that  rather  than  do 
this,  one  should  never  visit  the  Acropolis  of  Athens. 
It  is  better  to  have  looked  for  a  moment  than  never 
to  have  looked  at  all.  The  Acropolis  is  no  place  to 
hurry  through.  Rather  is  it  a  spot  to  visit  again  and 
again,  chiefly  toward  sunset,  not  merely  to  wander 
through  the  ruins,  or  to  rest  on  the  steps  of  the  Par- 
thenon musing  over  the  remote  past  to  which  this 
place  belongs,  but  also  to  see  the  sun  sink  to  the 
west  as  Plato  and  Socrates  must  often  have  seen  it 
sink  from  this  very  place,  behind  the  rugged  sky-line 
of  the  Argolid,  which  never  changes,  lengthening  the 
purple  shadows  of  the  hills  on  the  peaceful  plain  and 


94     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

touching  the  golden-brown  of  the  temples  with  that 
afterglow  which,  once  seen,  can  never  be  forgotten. 

The  gates  of  the  Acropolis  are  closed  at  sunset 
by  the  guards,  and  lingering  visitors  are  insistently 
herded  into  groups  and  driven  downward  to  the  gate 
like  sheep  by  the  little  band  of  blue-coated  custo- 
dians. Still,  they  are  not  hard-hearted,  and  if  a  be- 
lated visitor  finds  the  outer  gates  locked  a  trifle  before 
sunset,  as  often  happens  with  the  idea  of  preventing 
needless  ascent,  a  plea  for  "  pende  lepta  "  (five  min- 
utes) is  likely  to  be  honored  even  without  a  petty 
bribe.  But  at  last  every  one  must  go,  and  the  holy 
hill  of  Athena  is  left  untenanted  for  one  more  of  its 
endless  round  of  nights.  A  visit  to  the  Acropolis  by 
moonlight  is  traditionally  worth  while,  and  the  need- 
ful permission  is  not  difficult  to  obtain  once  the  mu- 
nicipal office  dealing  with  such  things  is  located.  The 
Parthenon  on  a  clear,  moonlit  night  must  be  inde- 
scribably lovely,  even  in  its  lamentable  ruin. 

Other  sights  of  Athens,  ancient  and  modern,  are 
interesting,  and  many  are  magnificent.  But  the  Acro- 
polis is  unquestionably  the  best  that  Athens  has  to 
show,  and  the  Parthenon  is  incomparably  the  best 
of  the  Acropolis.  It  is  the  first  and  the  last  spot  to 
seek  in  visiting  Athena's  famous  city,  and  the  last 
glimpse  the  departing  voyager  —  very  likely  with  a 
not  unmanly  tear  —  catches  from  his  ship  as  it  sails 


ANCIENT  ATHENS :  THE  ACROPOLIS     95 

out  into  the  blue  ^gean  is  of  this  hoary  temple 
reposing  in  calm  and  serene  indifference  to  man- 
kind on  its  rocky  height.  It  has  seen  the  worship 
of  Athena  Parthenos  give  way  to  the  reverence  of 
another  Virgin  —  a  holier  ideal  of  Wisdom  set  up  in 
its  own  precincts,  and  worshiped  there  on  the  very 
spot  where  once  the  youth  of  Athens  did  honor  to 
the  pagan  goddess.  Gods  and  religions  have  risen 
and  departed,  despots  have  come  and  gone  ;  but  the 
Parthenon  has  stood  unchanging,  the  unrivaled  em- 
bodiment of  architectural  beauty  to-day,  as  it  was 
when  Ictinus,  Mnesicles,  Pheidias,  and  those  who 
were  with  them  created  it  out  of  their  combined 
and  colossal  genius,  under  the  wise  ordainment  of 
Pericles. 


CHAPTER  VI.    ANCIENT  ATHENS: 
THE   OTHER   MONUMENTS 


THERE  are  two  favorite  ways  whereby  those 
leaving  the  Acropolis  are  wont  to  descend  to 
the  modern  city.  One  lies  around  to  the  right  as  you 
leave  the  gates,  passing  between  the  Acropolis  and 
Mars  Hill  to  the  north  side  of  the  former,  where 
steps  will  be  found  leading  down  to  the  old  quarter  and 
thence  past  Shoe  Lane  to  Hermes  Street  and  home. 
The  other  passes  to  the  south  of  the  Acropolis  along 
its  southerly  slopes,  finally  emerging  through  an  iron 
gate  at  the  eastern  end,  whence  a  street  leads  directly 
homeward,  rather  cleaner  and  sweeter  than  the  other 
route  but  hardly  as  picturesque.  Since,  however,  this 
way  leads  to  some  of  the  other  notable  remains  of 
classic  Athens,  for  the  present  let  us  take  it. 

Immediately  on  leaving  the  avenue  in  front  of 
the  gates  of  the  Acropolis,  one  finds  a  path  leading 
eastward  directly  behind  and  above  the  Odeon  of 
Herodes  Atticus,  which  is  made  conspicuous  in  the 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  97 

landscape  by  the  lofty  stone  arches  remaining  at  its 
front.  These  arches  are  blackened  and  bear  every 
ear-mark  of  the  later  Roman  epoch.  Moreover  they 
strike  the  beholder  as  rather  unstable,  as  if  some  day 
they  might  fall  unless  removed.  But  their  loss  would 
be  a  pity,  nevertheless,  for  they  certainly  present  a 
striking  and  agreeable  feature  to  the  sight  despite 
their  lack  of  harmony  with  the  received  ideas  of  pure 
Greek  architecture.  It  hardly  repays  one  to  descend 
to  the  pit  of  this  commodious  theatre,  or  rather  con- 
cert hall,  since  one  gets  a  very  accurate  idea  of  it 
from  above  looking  down  into  its  orchestra  over  the 
tiers  of  grass-grown  seats.  For  more  detailed  inspec- 
tion of  ancient  theatrical  structures,  the  Dionysiac 
theatre  farther  along  our  path  is  decidedly  more 
worth  while,  besides  being  much  more  ancient  and 
more  interesting  by  association. 

On  the  way  thereto  are  passed  several  remnants  of 
a  long  "  stoa,"  or  portico,  called  that  of  Eumenes, 
curiously  intermingled  with  brick  relics  of  the  Turkish 
times,  and  the  non-archseological  visitor  will  hardly 
care  to  concern  himself  long  with  either.  But  he  will 
doubtless  be  interested  to  turn  aside  from  the  path 
and  clamber  up  to  the  base  of  the  steeper  rock  to 
inspect  the  damp  and  dripping  cave  where  once 
was  an  important  shrine  of  Asklepios,  with  the  usual 
"sacred  spring"  still  flowing,  and  still  surrounded 


98     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

with  remains  of  the  customary  porticoes,  in  which  the 
faithful  in  need  of  healing  once  reposed  themselves 
by  night,  awaiting  the  cure  which  the  vision  of  the 
god  might  be  hoped  to  bestow.  The  cave  is  now  a 
Catholic  shrine,  with  a  picture  of  its  particular  saint 
and  an  oil  lamp  burning  before  it  It  is  dank  and  dis- 
mal, and  for  one  to  remain  there  long  would  doubt- 
less necessitate  the  services  of  Asklepios  himself,  or 
of  some  skillful  modern  disciple  of  his  healing  art  — 
of  which,  by  the  way,  Athens  can  boast  not  a  few. 
The  Greek  seems  to  take  naturally  to  the  practice 
of  medicine,  and  some  of  the  physicians,  even  in 
remote  country  districts,  are  said  to  possess  unusual 
talent. 

Not  far  below  the  shrine  lies  the  theatre  of  Dio- 
nysus, scooped  out  of  the  hillside  as  are  most  Greek 
theatres,  with  a  paved,  semi-circular  "orchestra,"  or 
dancing  place,  at  its  foot.  Much  of  the  original  seat- 
ing capacity  is  concealed  by  the  overgrowth  of  grass, 
so  that  one  is  likely  greatly  to  underestimate  its 
former  size.  Once  the  seats  rose  far  up  toward  the 
precinct  of  Asklepios,  and  the  path  that  to-day  trav- 
erses the  slope  passes  through  what  was  once  the 
upper  portion  of  the  amphitheatre.  It  is  only  in  the 
lower  portions  that  the  stones  still  remain  in  a  fair 
state  of  preservation  and  serve  to  show  us  the  man- 
ner of  theatre  that  the  Athenians  knew  —  the  same  in 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  99 

which  the  earlier  generations  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  tragedies  of  that  famous  trio  of  playwrights, 
^schylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides.  This  theatre 
has  undergone  manifold  changes  since  its  first  con- 
struction, as  one  will  discover  from  his  archaeological 
books.  It  is  idle  for  us  here  to  seek  to  recall  the  suc- 
cessive alterations  which  changed  the  present  theatre 
from  that  which  the  ancients  actually  saw,  or  to  point 
out  the  traces  of  each  transformation  that  now  remain, 
to  show  that  the  "orchestra"  was  once  a  complete 
circle  and  lay  much  farther  back.  It  will,  however, 
be  found  interesting  enough  to  clamber  down  over 
the  tiers  of  seats  to  the  bottom  and  inspect  at  leisure 
the  carved  chairs  once  allotted  to  various  dignitaries, 
and  bearing  to  this  day  the  names  of  the  officers  who 
used  them.  Particularly  fine  is  the  chief  seat  of  ail, 
the  carved  chair  of  the  high  priest  of  Dionysus,  in 
the  very  centre  of  the  row,  with  its  bas-relief  of  fight- 
ing cocks  on  the  chair-arms  still  plainly  to  be  seen. 
It  is  well  to  remember,  however,  that  most  of  what 
the  visitor  sees  is  of  a  rather  recent  period  as  com- 
pared with  other  Athenian  monuments,  for  it  is  stated 
that  very  little  of  the  present  visible  theatre  is  of 
earlier  date  than  the  third  century  B.  C,  while  much 
is  of  even  a  more  recent  time  and  is  the  work  of  the 
Romans.  This  is  true,  especially,  of  the  conspicuous 
carved  screen  that  runs  along  behind  the  orchestra 


loo    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

space,  and  which  may  have  supported  the  stage  —  if 
there  was  a  stage  at  all.  The  paved  orchestra  will 
also  strike  one  as  unusual,  contrasting  with  the  green- 
sward to  be  seen  in  other  similar  structures,  such  as 
the  theatre  at  Epidaurus. 

The  vexed  question  of  the  use  of  any  elevated  stage 
in  Greek  theatres  so  divides  the  skilled  archseologists 
into  warring  camps  even  to-day  that  it  ill  becomes 
an  amateur  in  the  field  to  advance  any  opinion  at  all, 
one  way  or  the  other,  upon  the  subject.  There  are 
eminent  authorities  who  maintain  that  the  use  of  a 
raised  stage  in  such  a  theatre  w^as  utterly  unknown 
by  the  ancients,  and  that  any  such  development  can 
only  have  come  in  comparatively  modern  times,  un- 
der Roman  auspices.  Others  insist,  and  with  equal 
positiveness,  that  some  sort  of  a  stage  was  used  by 
the  more  ancient  Greeks.  The  arguments  pro  and 
con  have  waxed  warm  for  several  years,  without  con- 
vincing either  side  of  its  error.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
American  students  generally  incline  to  the  view  that 
there  was  no  such  raised  stage,  agreeing  with  the 
Germans,  while  English  scholars  appear  generally  to 
believe  that  the  stage  did  exist  and  was  used.  As  just 
remarked,  the  views  of  mere  laymen  in  such  a  case 
are  of  small  account,  and  I  shall  spare  the  reader 
my  own,  saying  only  that  in  the  few  reproductions  of 
Greek  plays  that  I  myself  have  seen,  there  has  been 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  loi 

no  confusion  whatever  produced  by  having  the  prin- 
cipal actors  present  in  the  "  orchestra "  space  with 
the  chorus  —  and  this,  too,  without  the  aid  of  the 
distinguishing  cothurnos,  or  sandal,  to  give  to  the 
principals  any  added  height.  From  this  it  seems  to 
me  not  unreasonable  to  contend  that,  if  a  stage  did 
exist,  it  was  hardly  called  into  being  by  any  pressing 
necessity  to  avoid  confusion,  as  some  have  argued  ; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  it  does  seem  as  if  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  chief  actors  to  the  higher  level  would 
often  mar  the  general  effect.  Such  a  play  as  the 
"Agamemnon"  of  y^Ischylus  would,  it  seems  to  me, 
lose  much  by  the  employment  of  an  elevated  plat- 
form for  those  actors  not  of  the  chorus.  In  fact,  there 
was  no  more  need  of  any  such  difference  in  level,  to 
separate  chorus  from  principal,  in  ancient  times  than 
there  is  to-day.  The  ancients  did,  however,  seek  to 
differentiate  the  principals  from  the  chorus  players, 
by  adding  a  cubit  unto  their  stature,  so  to  speak,  for 
they  devised  thick-soled  sandals  that  raised  them 
above  the  ordinary  height.  Besides  this  they  em- 
ployed masks,  and  occasionally  even  mechanism  for 
aerial  acting,  and  also  subterranean  passages. 

Whatever  we  may  each  conclude  as  to  the  exist- 
ence or  non-existence  of  an  elevated  stage  at  the 
time  of  Pericles,  we  shall  all  agree,  no  doubt,  that  our 
modern  stagecraft  takes  its  nomenclature  direct  from 


I02    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  Greek.  The  "  orchestra,"  which  in  the  old  Greek 
meant  the  circle  in  which  the  dancing  and  acting  took 
place,  we  have  taken  over  as  a  word  referring  to  the 
floor  space  filled  with  the  best  seats,  and  by  a  still 
less  justifiable  stretch  of  the  meaning  we  have  come 
to  apply  it  to  the  musicians  themselves.  Our  modern 
"  scene"  is  simply  the  old  Greek  word  a-Krjvq  (skene), 
meaning  a  "  tent,"  which  the  ancient  actors  used  as 
a  dressing-room.  The  marble  or  stone  wall,  of  vary- 
ing height,  and  pierced  by  doors  for  the  entrance 
and  exit  of  actors,  was  called  by  the  Greeks  the  "  pro- 
skenion,"  or  structure  before  the  skene,  serving  to 
conceal  the  portions  behind  the  scenes  and  add  back- 
ground to  the  action.  The  word  is  obviously  the 
same  as  our  modern  "proscenium,"  though  the  mean- 
ing to-day  is  entirely  different.  In  ancient  times  the 
proskenion,  instead  of  being  the  arch  framing  the 
foreground  of  a  "  scene,"  was  the  background,  or 
more  like  our  modern  "  drop  "  scene.  Being  of  per- 
manent character  and  made  of  stone,  it  generally 
represented  a  palace,  with  three  entrances,  and  often 
with  a  colonnade.  At  either  side  of  the  proskenion 
were  broad  roads  leading  into  the  orchestra  space, 
called  the  "  parodoi,"  by  means  of  which  the  cho- 
rus entered  and  departed  on  occasion,  and  through 
which  chariots  might  be  driven.  Thus,  for  instance,  in 
the  "  Agamemnon,"  that  hero  and  Cassandra  drove 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  103 

through  one  of  the  parodoi  into  the  orchestra,  char- 
iots and  all  —  a  much  more  effective  entrance  than 
would  have  been  possible  had  they  been  forced  to 
climb  aloft  to  a  stage  by  means  of  the  ladder  repre- 
sented on  some  of  the  vases  as  used  for  the  purpose. 
The  side  from  which  the  actor  entered  often  possessed 
significance,  as  indicating  whether  he  came  from  the 
country  or  from  the  sea.  As  for  disagreeable  scenes, 
such  as  the  murders  which  form  the  motif  of  the 
Oresteian  trilogy,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  re- 
mark that  they  were  almost  never  represented  on  the 
stage  in  sight  of  the  orchestra  or  spectators,  but  were 
supposed  always  to  take  place  indoors,  the  audience 
being  apprized  of  events  by  groans  and  by  the  ex- 
planations of  the  chorus.  The  ordinary  theatrical  per- 
formance was  in  the  nature  of  a  religious  ceremony, 
the  altar  of  the  god  being  in  the  centre  of  the  or- 
chestra space,  and  served  by  the  priest  before  the 
play  began.  And  in  leaving  the  subject,  one  may  add 
that  many  Greek  plays  required  sequels,  so  that  they 
often  came  in  groups  of  three,  each  separate  from 
the  other,  but  bearing  a  relation  to  each  other  not 
unlike  our  several  acts  of  a  single  piece.  So  much 
for  Greek  theatres  in  general,  and  the  theatre  of 
Dionysus  in  particular. 

Leaving  it  by  the  iron  gate  above  and  plunging 
into  a  labyrinthine  mass  of  houses  just  outside,  one 


I04    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

will  speedily  come  upon  an  interesting  monument 
called  the  "  choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates."  This 
is  the  only  remaining  representative  of  a  series  of 
pedestals  erected  by  victors  in  musical  or  dancing 
fetes  to  support  tripods  celebrating  their  victories. 
This  one,  which  is  exceedingly  graceful,  has  man- 
aged to  survive  and  is  a  thing  of  beauty  still,  despite 
several  fires  and  vicissitudes  of  which  it  bears  traces. 
The  street  is  still  called  the  "  Street  of  the  Tripods." 
A  few  steps  farther,  and  one  emerges  from  the  nar- 
rower lanes  into  the  broader  avenues  of  the  city,  and 
is  confronted  at  once  by  the  arch  of  Hadrian,  which 
stands  in  an  open  field  across  the  boulevard  of  Amalia. 
It  is  frankly  and  outspokenly  Roman,  of  course,  and 
does  not  flatter  the  Latin  taste  as  compared  with  the 
Greek.  It  need  delay  nobody  long,  however,  for  the 
tall  remaining  columns  of  the  temple  of  Olympian 
Zeus  are  just  before,  and  are  commanding  enough 
to  inspire  attention  at  once.  To  those  who  prefer  the 
stern  simplicity  of  the  Doric  order  of  columns,  the 
Corinthian  capitals  will  not  appeal.  But  the  few  huge, 
weathered  pillars,  despite  the  absence  of  roof  or  of 
much  of  the  entablature,  are  grand  in  their  own 
peculiar  way,  and  the  vast  size  of  the  temple  as  it 
originally  stood  may  serve  to  show  the  reverence  in 
which  the  father  of  the  gods  was  held  in  the  city  of 
his  great  daughter,  Athena.  The  more  florid  Corin- 


^ 


TEMPLE   OF    OLVMI'IAX    ZEUS 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  105 

thian  capital  seems  to  have  appealed  to  the  Roman 
taste,  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  great 
temple,  although  begun  by  Greeks,  was  completed 
in  the  time  of  Hadrian  and  after  the  dawn  of  the 
Christian  era :  so  that  if  it  disappoints  one  in  com- 
parison with  the  more  classic  structures  of  the  Acro- 
polis, it  may  be  set  down  to  the  decadent  Hellenistic 
taste  rather  than  to  a  flaw  in  the  old  Hellenic.  As 
for  the  Corinthian  order  of  capital,  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  devised  by  a  Corinthian  sculptor  from  a 
basket  of  fruit  and  flowers  which  he  saw  one  day 
on  a  wall,  perhaps  as  a  funeral  tribute.  The  idea  in- 
spired him  to  devise  a  conventionalized  flower  basket 
with  the  acanthus  leaf  as  the  main  feature,  and  to 
apply  the  same  to  the  ornamentation  of  the  tops  of 
marble  columns,  such  as  these. 

On  the  northern  side  of  the  Acropolis,  down  among 
the  buildings  and  alleys  of  the  so-called  "Turkish" 
quarter,  there  exist  several  fragmentary  monuments, 
which  may  be  passed  over  with  little  more  than  a 
word.  The  most  complete  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  interesting  of  these  relics  is  unquestionably  the 
"Tower  of  the  Winds,"  an  octagonal  building  not 
unlike  a  windmill  in  shape  and  general  size,  but  de- 
voted originally  to  the  uses  of  town  clock  and  wea- 
ther bureau.  On  its  cornices,  just  below  the  top,  are 
carved  eight  panels  facing  the  different  points  of  the 


io6    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

compass,  the  figures  in  high  rehef  representing  the  sev- 
eral winds.  The  appropriate  general  characteristics 
of  each  wind  are  brought  out  by  the  sculpture  —  here 
an  old  man  of  sour  visage  brings  snow  and  storms  ; 
another,  of  more  kindly  mien,  brings  gentle  rain  ; 
others  bring  flowers  and  ripening  fruits.  A  weather- 
vane  once  surmounted  the  structure.  Near  by,  scat- 
tered among  the  houses,  are  bits  of  old  porticoes, 
sometimes  areas  of  broken  columns,  and  at  others 
quite  perfect  specimens  still  bearing  their  pedimental 
stones,  testifying  to  the  former  presence  of  ancient 
market  places,  or  public  meeting  places,  in  large  part 
belonging  to  the  later,  or  Roman,  period.  It  was  in 
this  general  vicinity  that  the  original  agora,  or  market 
place,  stood,  no  doubt.  In  some  of  the  porticoes  were 
often  to  be  found  teachers  of  one  sort  or  another,  and 
in  one  "  stoa"  of  this  kind,  we  are  told,  taught  those 
philosophers  who,  from  the  location  of  their  school, 
came  to  be  called  "  stoics" — giving  us  an  adjective 
which  to-day  has  lost  every  vestige  of  its  derivative 
significance.  Nothing  remains  of  the  other  famous 
structures  that  are  supposed  to  have  been  located  in 
this  vicinity,  or  at  least  nothing  has  been  unearthed  as 
yet,  although  possibly  if  some  of  the  congested  and 
rather  mean  houses  of  the  quarter  could  be  removed, 
some  vestiges  of  this  important  section  of  the  clas- 
sic city  might  be  recovered.  Nothing  remains  of  the 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  107 

ancient  *'  agora,"  or  market  place,  in  which  St.  Paul 
said  he  saw  the  altar  with  this  inscription,  "  To  the 
unknown  god."  But  the  Areopagus,  or  Mars  Hill, 
where  Paul  is  supposed  to  have  stood  when  he  made 
his  noble  speech  to  the  men  of  Athens,  is  still  left 
and  well  repays  frequent  visitation.  Its  ancient  fame 
as  the  place  where  the  god  Ares,  or  Mars,  was  tried 
for  his  life,  and  as  the  place  of  deliberation  over  the 
gravest  Athenian  affairs,  has  been  augmented  by  the 
celebrity  it  derived  from  the  apostle's  eloquent  ar- 
gument, in  which  he  commented  on  the  activity  of 
the  Athenian  mind  and  its  fondness  for  theology,  a 
characteristic  rather  inadequately  brought  out  by  the 
Bible's  rendering,  "too  superstitious."  The  Areopagus 
to-day  is  a  barren  rock  devoid  of  vegetation  or  of  any 
trace  of  building,  although  rough-hewn  steps  here 
and  there  and  a  rude  leveling  of  the  top  are  visible. 
Of  the  great  events  that  have  passed  on  this  rocky 
knoll  not  a  trace  remains.  With  reference  to  the 
Acropolis  towering  above  and  close  at  hand.  Mars 
Hill  seems  small,  but  the  ascent  of  it  from  the  plain 
is  long  and  steep  enough.  It  is  apparently  no  more 
than  an  outlying  spur  of  the  main  rock  of  the  Acropo- 
lis, from  which  it  is  separated  by  a  slight  depression ; 
but  it  shares  with  the  holy  hill  of  Athena  a  celebrity 
which  makes  it  the  object  of  every  thoughtful  visitor's 
attention.    From  its  top  one  may  obtain  almost  the 


io8    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

best  view  of  the  afterglow  of  sunset  on  the  temples 
and  the  Propylsea  of  the  Acropolis,  after  the  custo- 
dians of  the  latter  have  driven  all  visitors  below ;  and 
sitting  there  as  the  light  fades  one  may  lose  himself 
readily  in  a  reverie  in  which  the  mighty  ones  of  old, 
from  Ares  himself  down  to  the  mortal  sages  of  later 
days,  pass  in  grand  review,  only  to  fade  away  from 
the  rnind  and  leave  the  eloquent  apostle  of  the  newer 
religion  saying  to  the  citizens  gathered  around  him, 
"Whom,  therefore,  ye  ignorantly  worship,  Him  de- 
clare I  unto  you."  Let  us,  if  we  will,  believe  that  it 
was  "  in  the  midst  of  Mars  Hill "  that  Paul  preached  his 
sonorous  sermon,  despite  a  tendency  among  schol- 
ars to  suggest  that  he  probably  stood  somewhere 
else,  "  close  by  or  near  to  "  rather  than  "in  the  midst 
of"  the  spot.  If  we  paid  undue  heed  to  these  icono- 
clastic theories  of  scientists,  what  would  become  of 
all  our  cherished  legends?  The  traveler  in  Greece 
loses  half  the  charm  of  the  place  if  he  cannot  become 
as  a  little  child  and  believe  a  good  many  things  to  be 
true  enough  that  perhaps  can  hardly  stand  the  severe 
test  of  archaeology.  And  why  should  he  not  do  this? 
Peopled  with  ghostly  memories  also  is  the  long, 
low  ridge  of  rocky  ground  to  the  westward,  across 
the  broad  avenue  that  leads  from  the  plain  up  to 
the  Acropolis,  still  bearing  its  ancient  name  of  the 
"  Pnyx."    In  the  valley  between  lie  evidences  of  a 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  109 

bygone  civilization,  the  crowded  foundations  of  an- 
cient houses,  perhaps  of  the  poorer  class,  huddled 
together  along  ancient  streets,  the  lines  of  which  are 
faintly  discernible  among  the  ruins,  while  here  and 
there  are  traces  of  old  watercourses  and  drains,  with 
deep  wells  and  cisterns  yawning  up  at  the  beholder. 
Thus  much  of  the  older  town  has  been  recovered, 
lying  as  it  does  in  the  open  and  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  present  line  of  dwellings.  Above  this  mass  of  ruin 
the  hill  rises  to  the  ancient  assembling  place  of  the 
enfranchised  citizens — the  "  Bema,"  or  rostrum,  from 
which  speeches  on  public  topics  were  made  to  the 
assembled  multitude.  The  Bema  is  still  in  place, 
backed  by  a  wall  of  huge  "  Cyclopean  "  masonry. 
Curiously  enough  the  ground  slopes  downward  from 
the  Bema  to-day,  instead  of  upward  as  a  good  amphi- 
theatre for  auditors  should  do,  giving  the  impression 
that  the  eloquence  of  the  Athenian  orators  must  lit- 
erally have  gone  over  the  heads  of  their  audiences. 
That  this  was  anciently  the  case  appears  to  be  de- 
nied, however,  and  we  are  told  that  formerly  the  topo- 
graphy was  quite  the  reverse  of  modern  conditions, 
made  so  artificially  with  the  aid  of  retaining  walls, 
now  largely  destroyed.  Until  this  is  understood,  the 
Bema  and  its  neighborhood  form  one  of  the  hardest 
things  in  Athens  to  reconstruct  in  memory.  It  is  from 
the  rocky  platform  of  this  old  rostrum  that  one  gets 


no    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  ideal  view  of  the  Acropolis,  bringing  out  the  per- 
fect subordination  of  the  Propylsea  to  the  Parthe- 
non, and  giving  even  to-day  a  very  fair  idea  of  the 
appearance  of  the  Acropolis  and  its  temples  as  the 
ancients  saw  them.  Fortunate,  indeed,  is  one  who 
may  see  these  in  the  afternoon  light  standing  out 
sharply  against  a  background  of  opaque  cloud,  yet 
themselves  colored  by  the  glow  of  the  declining  sun. 
Of  all  the  magnificent  ruins  in  Greece,  this  is  the  finest 
and  best,  —  the  Acropolis  from  the  Bema,  or  from  any 
point  along  the  ridge  of  the  Pnyx. 

Of  course  that  temple  which  is  called,  though 
possibly  erroneously,  the  Theseum,  is  one  of  the  best 
preserved  of  all  extant  Greek  temples  of  ancient  date, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  sights  of  Athens, 
after  the  Acropolis  and  the  temples  thereon.  And  yet, 
despite  that  fact,  it  somehow  fails  to  arouse  anything 
like  the  same  enthusiasm  in  the  average  visitor. 
Just  why  this  is  so  it  may  be  rash  to  attempt  to  say, 
but  I  suspect  it  is  chiefly  because  the  Theseum  is, 
after  all,  a  rather  colorless  and  uninspiring  thing  by 
comparison  with  the  Parthenon,  lacking  in  individu- 
ality, although  doubtless  one  would  look  long  before 
finding  real  fiaws  in  its  architecture  or  proportions. 
It  simply  suffers  because  its  neighbors  are  so  much 
grander.  If  it  stood  quite  alone  as  the  temple  at 
Segesta  stands,  or  as  stand  the  magnificent  ruins  at 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  iii 

Paestum,  it  would  be  a  different  matter.  As  it  is,  with 
the  Parthenon  looking  down  from  the  Acropolis  not 
far  away,  the  Theseum  loses  immeasurably  in  the 
effect  that  a  specimen  of  ancient  architecture  so  ob- 
viously perfect  ought,  in  all  justice,  to  command.  It 
seems  entirely  probable  that  the  failure  of  this  smaller 
temple  to  inspire  and  lay  hold  on  Athenian  visitors  is 
due  to  the  overshadowing  effect  of  its  greater  neigh- 
bors, which  it  feebly  resembles  in  form  without  at  all 
equaling  their  beauty,  and  in  part  also,  perhaps,  to 
the  uncertainty  about  its  name.  That  it  was  really  a 
temple  of  Theseus,  an  early  king  of  Athens,  seems 
no  longer  to  be  believed  by  any,  although  no  very 
satisfactory  substitute  seems  to  be  generally  accepted. 
It  will  remain  the  Theseum  for  many  years  to  come, 
no  doubt,  if  not  for  all  time.  Theseus  certainly  de- 
served some  such  memorial  as  this,  and  it  is  not 
amiss  to  believe  that  the  bones  of  the  hero  were 
actually  deposited  here  by  Cimon  when  he  brought 
them  back  from  Scyros.  The  services  of  Theseus  to 
the  city  were  great.  If  we  may,  in  childlike  trust,  ac- 
cept the  testimony  of  legend,  Theseus  was  the  son 
of  King  ^geus  and  yEthra,  but  was  brought  up 
in  the  supposition  that  he  was  a  son  of  Poseidon, 
in  the  far  city  of  Troezen.  When  he  grew  up,  how- 
ever, he  was  given  a  sword  and  shield  and  sent  to 
Athens,  where  his  father,  ^geus,  was  king.  Escaping 


112    GREECE  AND  THE  yEGEAN  ISLANDS 

poisoning  by  Medea,  he  appeared  at  the  Athenian 
court,  was  recognized  by  his  armor,  and  was  desig- 
nated by  yEgeus  as  his  rightful  successor.  He  per- 
formed various  heroic  exploits,  freed  Athens  of  her 
horrid  tribute  of  seven  boys  and  seven  girls  paid  to 
the  Cretan  Minotaur,  came  back  triumphant  to  Athens 
only  to  find  that  yEgeus,  mistaking  the  significance 
of  his  sails,  which  were  black,  had  committed  suicide 
by  hurling  himself  in  his  grief  from  the  Acropolis  ; 
and  thereupon,  Theseus  became  king.  He  united  the 
Attic  cities  in  one  state,  instituted  the  democracy 
and  generously  abdicated  a  large  share  of  the  kingly 
power,  devised  good  laws,  and  was  ever  after  held  in 
high  esteem  by  the  city  —  although  he  died  in  exile 
at  Scyros,  to  which  place  he  withdrew  because  of  a 
temporary  coolness  of  his  people  toward  him.  Cimon 
brought  back  his  bones,  however,  in  469  B.  C,  and 
Theseus  became  a  demi-god  in  the  popular  imagina- 
tion. The  Theseum  owes  its  splendid  preservation 
to  the  fact  that  it  was  used,  as  many  other  temples 
were,  as  a  Christian  church,  sacred  to  St.  George  of 
Cappadocia. 

Infinitely  more  pregnant  with  definite  interest  is 
the  precinct  of  the  Ceramicus,  near  the  Dipylon,  or 
double  gate,  of  the  city,  which  gave  egress  to  the 
Eleusis  road  on  the  western  side  of  the  town,  the  re- 
mains of  which  are  easily  to  be  seen  to-day.   The 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  113 

excavations  at  this  point  have  recently  been  pushed 
with  thoroughness  and  some  very  interesting  frag- 
ments have  come  to  Hght,  buried  for  all  these  centu- 
ries in  the  " Themistoclean  wall"  of  the  city.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  the  Spartans,  being  jealous  of  the 
growing  power  of  Athens,  protested  against  the  re- 
building of  the  walls.  Themistocles,  who  was  not  only 
a  crafty  soul  but  in  high  favor  at  Athens  at  the  time, 
undertook  to  go  to  Sparta  and  hold  the  citizens  of 
that  town  at  bay  until  the  walls  should  be  of  sufficient 
height  for  defense.  Accordingly  he  journeyed  down 
to  Sparta  and  pleaded  the  non-arrival  of  his  ambas- 
sadorial colleagues  as  an  excuse  for  delaying  the  open- 
ing of  negotiations  on  the  subject  of  the  wall.  Days 
passed  and  still  the  colleagues  did  not  come,  much 
to  the  ostensible  anxiety  and  disgust  of  Themistocles, 
who  still  asserted  they  must  soon  arrive.  Meantime 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Athens  was  work- 
ing night  and  day  to  build  those  walls,  heaping  up 
outworks  for  the  city  from  every  conceivable  mate- 
rial, sparing  nothing,  not  even  the  gravestones  of  the 
Ceramicus  district,  in  their  feverish  anxiety  to  get  the 
walls  high  enough  to  risk  an  attack.  The  Roman  con- 
sul worked  no  more  assiduously  at  hewing  down  the 
famous  bridge,  nor  did  Horatius  labor  more  arduously 
at  his  task,  than  did  Themistocles  in  diplomatic  duel 
with  the  men  of  Sparta.   At  last  the  news  leaked  out 


114     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

—  but  it  was  too  late.  The  walls  were  high  enough 
at  last,  and  all  further  pretense  of  a  delayed  embassy- 
was  dropped.  The  diplomacy  of  the  wily  Themistocles 
had  triumphed  —  and  by  no  means  for  the  first  time. 
Out  of  this  so-called  Themistoclean  wall  there  have 
recently  been  taken  some  of  the  grave  "stelae,"  or 
flat  slabs  sculptured  in  low  relief,  from  the  places 
where  the  harassed  Athenians  cast  them  in  such 
haste  more  than  four  centuries  before  Christ.  They 
are  battered  and  broken,  but  the  figures  on  them  are 
still  easily  visible,  and  while  by  no  means  sculpturally 
remarkable  the  relics  possess  an  undoubted  historical 
interest. 

The  tombs  of  the  Ceramicus  district,  which  form 
an  important  part  of  the  sculptural  remains  of  Athe- 
nian art,  are  still  numerous  enough  just  outside  the 
Dipylon  Gate,  although  many  examples  have  been 
housed  in  the  National  Museum  for  greater  protec- 
tion against  weather  and  vandals.  Of  those  that  for- 
tunately remain  iit  situ  along  what  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Sacred  Way  to  Eleusis,  there  are  enough  to 
give  a  very  fair  idea  of  the  appearance  of  this  ancient 
necropolis,  while  the  entire  collection  of  tombstones 
afTords  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  complete 
exhibits  to  be  seen  in  Athens.  The  excellence  of  the 
work  calls  attention  to  the  high  general  level  of  skill 
achieved  by  the  artisans  of  the  time,  for  it  is  hardly 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  115 

to  be  assumed  that  these  memorials  of  the  dead  were 
any  more  often  the  work  of  the  first  Athenian  artists 
of  that  day  than  is  the  case  among  our  own  people 
at  present. 

The  whole  question  of  the  Greek  tomb  sculpture 
is  a  tempting  one,  and  a  considerable  volume  of  liter- 
ature already  exists  with  regard  to  it.  The  artistic 
excellence  of  the  stelae  in  their  highest  estate,  the 
quaintness  of  the  earlier  efforts,  the  ultimate  regula- 
tion of  the  size  and  style  by  statute  to  discourage 
extravagance,  the  frequent  utilization  of  an  older 
stone  for  second-hand  uses,  and  a  score  of  other 
interesting  facts,  might  well  furnish  forth  an  entire 
chapter.  As  it  is,  we  shall  be  obliged  here  briefly 
to  pass  over  the  salient  points  and  consider  with- 
out much  pretense  of  detail  the  chief  forms  of  tomb 
adornment  that  the  present  age  has  to  show,  pre- 
served from  the  day  when  all  good  Athenians  dying 
were  buried  outside  the  gates  on  the  Eleusinian  way. 
Not  only  carved  on  the  stelae  themselves,  but  also 
placed  on  top  of  them,  are  to  be  seen  reliefs  or  repro- 
ductions of  long-necked  amphorae,  or  two-handled 
vases,  in  great  numbers.  These  are  now  known  to 
have  had  their  significance  as  referring  to  the  un- 
married state  of  the  deceased.  They  are  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  reproductions  of  the  vases  the  Greek 
maidens  used  to  carry  to  the  spring  Callirrhoe  for 


ii6     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

water  for  the  nuptial  bath,  and  the  use  of  them  in  the 
tomb  sculpture,  on  the  graves  of  those  who  died  un- 
married, is  stated  to  have  grown  out  of  the  idea  that 
"  those  who  died  unwed  had  Hades  for  their  bride- 
groom." These  vases  come  the  nearest  to  resembling 
modern  grave  memorials  of  any  displayed  at  Athens, 
perhaps.  The  rest  of  the  gravestones  are  entirely 
different  both  in  appearance  and  in  idea  from  any- 
thing we  are  accustomed  to-day  to  use  in  our  ceme- 
teries, and  it  is  likely  to  be  universally  agreed  that 
they  far  eclipse  our  modern  devices  in  beauty.  The 
modern  graveyard  contents  itself  in  the  main  with 
having  its  graves  marked  with  an  eye  to  statistics, 
rather  than  artistic  effect,  save  in  the  cases  of  the  very 
rich,  who  may  invoke  the  aid  of  eminent  sculptors  to 
adorn  their  burial  plots.  In  Athens  this  seems  not 
to  have  been  so.  There  is  very  little  in  the  way  of 
inscription  on  the  stones,  save  for  the  name.  The 
majority  are  single  panels  containing  bas-reliefs, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  portraits  of  the  departed. 

The  usual  type  of  tomb  relief  of  this  sort  seems 
to  be  a  group  of  figures,  sometimes  two,  sometimes 
three  or  four,  apparently  representing  a  leave-taking, 
or  frequently  the  figure  of  a  person  performing  some 
characteristic  act  of  life.  Of  the  latter  the  well-known 
tomb  of  Hegeso,  representing  a  woman  attended  by 
her  maid  fingering  trinkets  in  a  jewel  casket,  is  as 


TOMB  AMPHORA,    CERAMICUS 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  117 

good  a  type  as  any,  and  it  has  the  added  merit  of 
standing  in  its  original  place  in  the  street  of  the  tombs. 
Others  of  this  kind  are  numerous  enough  in  the 
museum.  The  aversion  to  the  representation  of  death 
itself  among  the  ancient  Greeks  is  well  understood, 
and  many  have  argued  from  it  that  these  tomb  reliefs 
indicate  an  intention  to  recall  the  deceased  as  he 
or  she  was  in  life,  without  suggestion  of  mourning. 
Nevertheless,  the  obvious  attitudes  of  sorrowful  part- 
ing visible  in  many  of  the  tomb  stelae  seem  to  me  to 
do  violence  to  this  theory  in  its  full  strength.  Among 
those  which  seem  most  indicative  of  this  is  a  very 
well-executed  one  showing  three  figures, —  an  old 
man,  a  youth,  and  a  little  lad.  The  old  man  stands 
looking  intently,  but  with  a  far-away  gaze,  at  a 
splendidly  built  but  thoughtful-visaged  young  man 
before  him,  while  the  lad  behind  is  doubled  up  in  a 
posture  plainly  indicating  extreme  grief,  with  his  face 
apparently  bathed  in  tears.  The  calm  face  of  the 
youth,  the  grave  and  silent  grief  of  the  paternal- 
looking  man,  and  the  unbridled  emotion  of  the  boy, 
all  speak  of  a  parting  fraught  with  intense  sorrow.  It 
might  be  any  parting  —  but  is  it  not  more  reasonable 
to  assume  that  it  means  the  parting  which  involves 
no  return  ? 

The  more  archaic  gravestones  are  best  typified  by 
the  not  unfamiliar  sculpture,  in  low  relief,  of  a  war- 


ii8     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

rior  leaning  on  a  spear,  or  by  the  well-known  little 
figure  of  Athena,  similarly  poised,  mourning  beside 
what  appears  to  be  a  gravestone  of  a  hero.  It  was 
one  of  the  former  type  that  we  saw  exhumed  from 
the  Themistoclean  wall,  with  the  warrior's  figure  and 
portions  of  the  spear  still  easily  discernible. 

It  remains  to  speak,  though  very  briefly  and  with- 
out much  detail,  of  the  National  Museum  itself,  which 
is  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  Athens,  and  which  divides 
with  the  Acropolis  the  abiding  interest  and  attention 
of  every  visitor.  It  is  in  many  ways  incomparable 
among  the  great  museums  of  the  world,  although 
others  can  show  more  beautiful  and  more  famous 
Greek  statues.  The  British  Museum  has  the  Elgin 
marbles  from  the  Parthenon,  which  one  would  to-day 
greatly  prefer  to  see  restored  to  Athens ;  the  Vatican 
holds  many  priceless  and  beautiful  examples  of  the 
highest  Greek  sculptural  art ;  Munich  has  the  inter- 
esting pedimental  figures  from  the  temple  at  ^Egina ; 
Naples  and  Paris  have  collections  not  to  be  despised ; 
but  nowhere  may  one  find  under  a  single  roof  so 
wide  a  range  of  Greek  sculpture,  from  the  earliest 
strivings  after  form  and  expression  to  the  highest 
ultimate  success,  as  in  the  Athenian  National  Museum, 
with  its  priceless  treasures  in  marble  and  in  bronze. 
The  wealth  of  statues,  large  and  small,  quaintly  primi- 
tive or  commandingly  lovely,  in  all  degrees  of  relief 


TOMB    RELIEF,    CERAMICUS 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  119 

and  in  the  round,  is  stupendous.  And  while  it  may- 
be heresy  to  pass  over  the  best  of  the  marbles  for 
anything  else,  it  is  still  a  fact  that  many  will  turn  from 
all  the  other  treasures  of  the  place  to  the  "  bronze 
boy  "  as  we  will  call  him  for  lack  of  a  better  name. 
This  figure  of  a  youth,  of  more  than  life  size  and 
poised  lightly  as  if  about  to  step  from  his  pedestal, 
with  one  hand  extended,  and  seemingly  ready  to 
speak,  is  far  less  well  known  than  he  deserves  to  be, 
chiefly  because  it  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  sponge 
divers  found  him  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean  and  brought 
him  back  to  the  light  of  day.  At  present  nobody  pre- 
sumes to  say  whether  this  splendid  figure  represents 
any  particular  hero.  He  might  be  Perseus,  or  Paris, 
or  even  Hermes.  His  hand  bears  evidence  of  having 
at  one  time  clasped  some  object,  whether  the  head 
of  Medusa,  the  apple,  or  the  caduceus,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say.  But  the  absence  of  winged  sandals  ap- 
pears to  dismiss  the  chance  that  he  was  Hermes,  and 
the  other  identifications  are  so  vague  as  to  leave  it 
perhaps  best  to  refer  to  him  only  as  an  "  ephebus," 
or  youth.  The  bronze  has  turned  to  a  dark  green, 
and  such  restorations  as  had  to  be  made  are  quite 
invisible,  so  that  to  all  outward  seeming  the  statue 
is  as  perfect  as  when  it  was  first  cast.  The  eyes,  in- 
laid with  consummate  skill  to  simulate  real  eyes,  sur- 
pass in  lifelike  effect  those  of  the  celebrated  bronze 


I20     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

charioteer  at  Delphi.  That  a  more  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  this  figure  is  given  here  is  not  so  much  that 
it  surpasses  the  other  statues  of  the  museum,  but 
because  it  is  so  recent  in  its  discovery  that  almost 
nothing  has  been  printed  about  it  for  general  circula- 
tion. 

It  would  be  almost  endless  and  entirely  profitless 
to  attempt  any  detailed  consideration  of  the  multitude 
of  objects  of  this  general  sculptural  nature  which  the 
museum  contains,  and  volumes  have  been  written 
about  them  all,  from  the  largest  and  noblest  of  the 
marbles  to  the  smallest  of  the  island  gems.  It  may 
not  be  out  of  place,  however,  to  make  brief  mention 
of  the  spoils  of  Mycenae  which  are  housed  here,  and 
which  reproductions  have  made  generally  familiar, 
because  later  we  shall  have  occasion  to  visit  Mycenae 
itself  and  to  discuss  in  more  detail  that  once  proud 
but  now  deserted  city,  the  capital  which  Agamemnon 
made  so  famous.  In  a  large  room  set  apart  for  the 
purpose  are  to  be  seen  the  treasures  that  were  taken 
from  the  six  tombs,  supposed  to  be  royal  graves,  that 
were  unearthed  in  the  midst  of  the  Mycenaean  agora, 
including  a  host  of  gold  ornaments,  cups,  rosettes, 
chains,  death  masks,  weapons,  and  human  bones. 
Whether  Dr.  Schliemann,  as  he  so  fondly  hoped  and 
claimed,  really  laid  bare  the  burial  place  of  the  con- 
queror of  Troy,  or  whether  what  he  found  was  some- 


Nalianal  Museum,  Athens 


BRONZE    EPHEBUS 


ANCIENT  ATHENS  121 

thing  far  less  momentous,  the  fact  remains  that  he 
did  exhume  the  bodies  of  a  number  of  personages 
buried  in  the  very  spot  where  legend  said  the  famous 
heroes  and  heroines  were  buried,  together  with  such 
an  array  of  golden  gear  that  it  seems  safe  to  assert 
that  these  were  at  any  rate  the  tombs  of  royalty.  If 
one  can  divest  his  mind  of  the  suspicions  raised 
by  the  ever-cautious  archaeologist  and  can  persuade 
himself  that  he  sees  perhaps  the  skeleton  and  sword 
of  the  leader  of  the  Argive  host  that  went  to  re- 
capture Helen,  this  Mycenaean  room  is  of  literally 
overwhelming  interest.  Case  after  case  ranged  about 
the  room  reveals  the  cunningly  wrought  ornaments 
that  gave  to  Mycenae  the  well-deserved  Homeric 
epithet  "  rich-in-gold."  From  the  grotesque  death 
masks  of  thin  gold  leaf  to  the  heavily  embossed 
Vaphio  cups,  everything  bears  testimony  to  the  high 
perfection  of  the  goldsmith's  art  in  the  pre-Homeric 
age.  Of  all  this  multitude  of  treasures,  the  chief  ob- 
jects are  unquestionably  the  embossed  daggers  and 
the  large  golden  cups,  notably  the  two  that  bear  the 
exceedingly  well-executed  golden  bulls,  and  the  so- 
called  "  Nestor"  cup,  which,  with  its  rather  angular 
shape  and  its  double  handle,  reproduces  exactly  the 
cup  that  Homer  describes  as  belonging  to  that  wise 
and  reverend  counselor. 

As  has  been  hinted,  the  scientific  archaeologists, 


122     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

less  swept  away  by  Homeric  enthusiasm  than  was 
Schliemann,  have  proved  skeptical  as  to  the  identifi- 
cation of  the  tombs  which  Schliemann  so  confidently 
proclaimed  at  first  discovery.  The  unearthing  of  a 
sixth  tomb,  where  the  original  excavator  had  looked 
for  only  five,  is  supposed  to  have  done  violence  to 
the  Agamemnonian  theory.  But  what  harm  can  it  do 
if  we  pass  out  of  the  Mycenaean  room  with  a  secret, 
though  perhaps  an  ignorant,  belief  that  we  have  looked 
upon  the  remains  and  accoutrements  of  one  who  was 
an  epic  hero,  the  victim  of  a  murderous  queen,  the 
avenger  of  a  brother's  honor,  and  the  conqueror  of  a 
famous  city  ?  It  is  simply  one  more  of  those  cases  in. 
which  one  gains  immeasurably  in  pleasure  if  he  can 
dismiss  scientific  questionings  from  his  mind  and  pass 
through  the  scene  unskeptical  of  the  heroes  of  the 
mighty  past,  if  not  of  the  very  gods  of  high  Olympus 
themselves.  It  may  be  wrong  ;  to  a  scientific  inves- 
tigator such  guileless  trust  is  doubtless  laughable. 
But  on  our  own  heads  be  it  if  therein  we  err  ! 


CHAPTER   VII.     EXCURSIONS   IN 
ATTICA 


AS  the  admirable  Baedeker  well  says,  the  stay 
in  Athens  is  undoubtedly  the  finest  part  of  a 
visit  to  Greece,  and  it  is  so  not  merely  because  of  the 
many  attractions  and  delights  of  the  city  itself,  but 
because  also  of  the  numerous  short  trips  aside  which 
can  be  made  in  a  day's  time,  without  involving  a 
night's  absence.  Such  little  journeys  include  the 
ascent  of  Pentelicus,  whose  massive  peak  rises  only 
a  few  miles  away,  revealing  even  from  afar  the  great 
gash  made  in  his  side  by  the  ancients  in  quest  of 
marble  for  their  buildings  and  statues ;  the  ride  out 
to  the  battlefield  of  Marathon ;  the  incomparable  drive 
to  Eleusis  ;  the  jaunt  by  rail  or  sea  to  Sunium  ;  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  sail  over  to  ^gina. 
Marathon  has  no  ruins  to  show.  Aside  from  the  in- 
terest attaching  to  that  famous  battleground  as  a  site, 
there  is  nothing  to  call  one  thither,  if  we  except  the 
tumulus,  or  mound,  which  marks  the  exact  spot  of 


124    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  conflict  w^hich  was  so  important  to  the  history  of 
western  Europe.  Neither  Marathon  nor  Thermopylae 
can  offer  much  to-day  but  memories.  But  Sunium, 
^gina,  and  Eleusis  possess  ruins  decidedly  worth  a 
visit  in  addition  to  much  scenic  loveliness,  and  the 
last-named  is  a  spot  so  interwoven  with  the  highest 
and  best  in  Greek  tradition  that  it  offers  a  peculiar 
charm. 

It  is  perfectly  possible  to  journey  to  Eleusis  by  train, 
but  to  elect  that  method  of  approach  is  to  miss  one 
of  the  finest  carriage  rides  to  be  had  in  the  vicinity  of 
Athens.  The  road  leads  out  of  the  city  through  its 
unpretentious  western  quarter,  by  the  "  street  of  the 
tombs  "  to  the  vale  of  the  Cephissus,  where  it  follows 
the  line  of  the  old  "  sacred  way "  to  Eleusis,  over 
which,  on  the  stated  festivals,  the  procession  of  torch- 
bearing  initiates  wended  its  way  by  night  to  the 
shrine  of  Demeter.  From  the  river  —  which  to-day  is 
a  mere  sandy  channel  most  of  the  year  —  the  smooth, 
hard  highway  rises  gradually  from  the  Attic  plain  to 
the  mountain  wall  of  Parnes,  making  straight  for  a 
narrow  defile  still  known  as  the  Pass  of  Daphne. 
This  pass  affords  direct  communication  between  the 
Attic  and  Thriasian  plains,  and  save  for  the  loftier 
valley  farther  north,  through  which  the  Peloponnesian 
railroad  runs,  is  the  only  break  in  the  mountain  bar- 
rier.   Eleusis  and  Attica  were  always  so  near  —  and 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  125 

yet  so  far  apart.  When  the  Spartans  invaded  the 
region,  Athens  felt  no  alarm  from  their  proximity 
until  they  had  actually  entered  her  own  plain,  so 
remote  seemed  the  valley  about  Eleusis,  despite  its 
scant  ten  miles  of  distance,  simply  because  it  was  so 
completely  out  of  sight.  As  the  carriage  ascends  the 
gentle  rise  to  the  pass,  the  plain  of  Attica  stretches 
out  behind,  affording  an  open  vista  from  the  Piraeus 
to  the  northern  mountains,  a  green  and  pleasant  vale 
despite  its  dearth  of  trees,  while  the  city  of  Athens 
dominates  the  scene  and  promises  a  fine  spectacle  by 
sunset  as  one  shall  return  from  the  pass  at  evening, 
facing  the  commanding  Acropolis  aglow  in  the  after- 
light. 

A  halt  of  a  few  moments  at  the  top  of  the  pass 
gives  an  opportunity  to  alight  and  visit  an  old  church 
just  beside  the  road.  It  was  once  adjoined  by  some 
monastic  cloisters,  now  in  ruins.  Unlike  most  of  the 
Greek  churches,  this  one  possesses  a  quaint  charm 
from  without,  and  within  displays  some  very  curious 
old  mosaics  in  the  ceiling.  On  either  side  of  its  door- 
way stand  two  sentinel  cypresses,  their  sombre  green 
contrasting  admirably  with  the  dull  brown  tones  of 
the  building,  while  across  the  close,  in  a  gnarled  old 
tree,  are  hung  the  bells  of  the  church.  The  use  of 
the  neighboring  tree  as  a  campanile  is  by  no  means 
uncommon  in  Greece,  and  a  pretty  custom  it  is.  The 


126     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

groves  were  God's  first  temples ;  and  if  they  are  no 
longer  so,  it  is  yet  true  in  Greece  at  least  that  the 
trees  still  bear  the  chimes  that  call  the  devout  to 
prayer.  Inside  the  building,  in  addition  to  the  quaint 
Byzantine  decorations,  one  may  find  something  of 
interest  in  the  curious  votive  offerings,  before  re- 
ferred to  as  common  in  Greek  churches,  suspended 
on  the  altar  screen.  Thanks  for  the  recovered  use  of 
arms,  eyes,  legs,  and  the  like  seem  to  be  expressed 
by  hanging  in  the  church  a  small  white-metal  model 
of  the  afflicted  organ  which  has  been  so  happily 
restored.  I  believe  I  have  called  attention  to  this 
practice  as  a  direct  survival  of  the  old  custom  of 
the  worshipers  of  Asklepios,  which  finds  a  further 
amplification  in  many  churches  farther  west,  —  in 
Sicily,  for  example,  —  where  pictures  of  accidents  are 
often  found  hung  in  churches  by  those  who  have  been 
delivered  from  bodily  peril  and  who  are  desirous  to 
commemorate  the  fact.  In  the  church  in  Daphne  Pass 
we  found  for  the  first  time  instances  of  the  votive  offer- 
ing of  coins,  as  well  as  of  anatomical  models.  The 
significance  of  this  I  do  not  pretend  to  know,  but  by 
analogy  one  might  assume  that  the  worshiper  was 
returning  thanks  for  relief  from  depleted  finances. 
The  coins  we  saw  in  this  church  were  of  different 
denominations,  all  of  silver,  and  representing  several 
different  national  currency  systems. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  127 

Behind  the  church  on  either  side  rise  the  pine- 
clad  slopes  of  the  Parnes  range,  displaying  a  most 
attractive  grove  of  fragrant  trees,  through  the  midst 
of  which  Daphne's  road  permits  us  to  pass.  And 
in  a  brief  time  the  way  descends  toward  the  bay  of 
Salamis,  shining  in  the  sun,  directly  at  one's  feet, 
while  the  lofty  and  extensive  island  of  that  immortal 
name  appears  behind  it.  So  narrow  are  the  straits 
that  for  a  long  time  Salamis  seems  almost  like  a  part 
of  the  mainland,  while  the  included  bay  appears  more 
like  a  large  and  placid  lake  than  an  arm  of  a  tideless 
sea.  The  carriage  road  skirts  the  wide  curve  of  the 
bay  for  several  level  miles,  the  village  of  Eleusis  — 
now  called  Levsina  —  being  always  visible  at  the  far 
extremity  of  the  bay  and  marked  from  afar  by  prosaic 
modern  factory  chimneys.  It  lies  low  in  the  landscape, 
which  is  a  pastoral  one.  The  highway  winds  along 
past  a  score  of  level  farms,  and  at  least  two  curious 
salt  lakes  are  to  be  seen,  lying  close  to  the  road  and 
said  to  be  tenanted  by  sea  fish,  although  supplied 
apparently  from  inland  sources.  They  are  higher  in 
level  than  the  bay,  and  there  is  a  strong  outflow  from 
them  to  the  sea  waters  beyond.  Nevertheless,  they 
are  said  to  be  salt  and  to  support  salt-water  life. 

Eleusis  as  a  town  is  not  attractive.  The  sole  claim 
on  the  visitor  is  found  in  the  memories  of  the  place 
and  in  the  ruined  temples,  which  are  in  the  heart  of 


128    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  village  itself.  The  secret  of  the  mysteries,  despite 
its  wide  dissemination  among  the  Athenians  and 
others,  has  been  well  kept  —  so  well  that  almost 
nothing  is  known  of  the  ceremony  and  less  of  its 
teaching.  In  a  general  way  there  is  known  only  the 
fact  that  it  had  to  do  with  the  worship  of  Demeter, 
the  goddess  of  the  harvest,  and  that  the  mysteries 
concerned  in  some  way  the  legend  of  the  rape  of 
Kora  (Proserpine)  by  Hades  (Pluto).  There  are  hints 
as  to  certain  priests,  sacred  vessels,  symbols  and  rites, 
some  of  which  appear  not  to  have  been  devoid  of 
grossness  —  but  nothing  definite  is  known,  and  prob- 
ably nothing  definite  ever  will  be.  The  general  tone  of 
the  mysteries  seems  to  have  been  high,  for  no  less  an 
authority  than  Cicero,  who  was  initiated  into  the  cult 
in  the  later  and  decadent  days  of  the  Greek  nation, 
regarded  the  teachings  embodied  in  the  Eleusinian 
rites  as  the  highest  product  of  the  Athenian  culture, 
and  averred  that  they  *'  enabled  one  to  live  more 
happily  on  earth  and  to  die  with  a  fairer  hope."  It 
was,  of  course,  unlawful  for  anybody  to  reveal  the 
secrets  ;  and  although  the  initiation  was  apparently 
open  to  any  one  who  should  seek  it,  so  that  the  num- 
ber of  devotees  was  large  during  a  long  succession 
of  years,  the  secret  was  faithfully  kept  by  reason  of 
the  great  reverence  in  which  the  mysteries  were  held. 
That  some  of  the  features  verged  on  wanton  license 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  129 

has  been  alleged,  and  it  may  have  been  this  that 
inspired  the  wild  and  brilliant  young  Alcibiades  to 
burlesque  the  ceremony,  to  the  scandal  of  pious 
Athenians  and  to  his  own  ultimate  undoing.  For  it 
was  a  trial  on  this  charge  that  recalled  Alcibiades 
from  Sicily  and  led  to  his  disgrace. 

The  approach  to  the  vast  main  temple  is  unusual, 
in  that  it  is  by  an  inclined  plane  rather  than  by  steps. 
Even  to-day  the  ruts  of  chariot  wheels  are  to  be 
distinguished  in  this  approaching  pavement.  The 
temple  itself  was  also  most  unusual,  for  instead  of  a 
narrow  cella  sufficient  only  for  the  colossal  image  of 
the  deity,  there  was  a  vast  nave,  and  room  for  a  large 
concourse  of  worshipers.  On  the  side  next  the  hil- 
lock against  which  the  temple  was  built  there  is  a 
long,  low  flight  of  hewn  steps,  possibly  used  for  seats, 
while  the  many  column  bases  seem  to  argue  either  a 
second  story  or  a  balcony  as  well  as  a  spacious  roof. 
Much  of  the  original  building  is  distinguishable,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  the  Romans  added  a  great  deal ; 
for  the  Latin  race  seems  to  have  found  the  rites  to 
its  liking,  so  that  it  took  care  to  preserve  and  beautify 
the  place  after  its  own  ideas  of  beauty.  If  the  surviv- 
ing medallion  of  some  Roman  emperor  which  is  to 
be  seen  near  the  entrance  of  the  Propylaea  is  a  fair 
sample,  however,  one  may  doubt  with  reason  the 
efifectiveness  of  the  later  additions  to  the  buildings  on 


I30    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  spot.  The  Roman  Propylaea  was  built  by  Appius 
Claudius  Pulcher,  but  if  the  medallion  portrait  is  his 
own,  one  must  conclude  that  the  "Pulcher"  was  gross 
flattery. 

The  ruins  are  extensive,  but  mainly  flat,  so  that 
their  interest  as  ruins  is  almost  purely  archaeological. 
The  ordinary  visitor  will  find  the  chief  charm  in  the 
memories  of  the  place.  Of  course  there  is  a  museum 
on  the  spot,  as  in  every  Greek  site.  It  contains  a 
large  number  of  fragments  from  the  temples  and 
Propylaea,  bits  of  statuary  and  bas-relief  having  chiefly 
to  do  with  Demeter  and  her  attendant  goddesses. 
By  far  the  most  interesting  and  most  perfect  of  the 
Eleusinian  reliefs,  however,  is  in  the  national  museum 
at  Athens  —  a  large  slab  representing  Demeter  and 
Proserpine  bestowing  the  gift  of  seed  corn  on  the 
youth  Triptolemus,  who  is  credited  with  the  invention 
of  the  plow.  For  some  reason,  doubtless  because  of 
the  hospitality  of  his  family  to  her,  Triptolemus  won 
the  lasting  favor  of  Demeter,  who  not  only  gave  him 
corn  but  instructed  him  in  the  art  of  tilling  the  stub- 
born glebe.  It  seems  entirely  probable  that  Triptole- 
mus and  Kora  shared  in  the  mystic  rites  at  Eleusis. 
As  for  the  dying  with  a  "  fairer  hope  "  spoken  of  by 
Cicero  as  inculcated  by  the  ceremonies  of  the  cult, 
one  may  conjecture  that  it  sprang  from  some  early 
pagan  interpretation  of  the  principle  later  enunciated 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  131 

in  the  Scriptural  "  Except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die." 

Eleusis  itself  lies  on  a  low  knoll  in  the  midst  of  the 
Thriasian  plain,  which  in  early  spring  presents  a  most 
attractive  appearance  of  fertility  on  every  side,  appro- 
priately enough  to  the  traditions  of  the  spot.  From 
the  top  of  the  hillock  behind  the  great  temple  and 
the  museum,  one  obtains  a  good  view  of  the  vale 
northward  and  of  the  sacred  way  winding  off  toward 
Corinth  by  way  of  Megara.  Where  the  plain  stops 
and  the  mountain  wall  approaches  once  again  close 
to  the  sea,  this  road  grows  decidedly  picturesque, 
recalling  in  a  mild  way  the  celebrated  Amalfi  drive 
as  it  rises  and  falls  on  the  face  of  the  cliff.  Nor  should 
one  pass  from  the  subject  of  Eleusis  without  mention- 
ing the  numerous  little  kids  that  frisk  over  the  ruins, 
attended  by  anxious  mother-goats,  all  far  from  un- 
friendly. Kids  are  common  enough  sights  in  Greece, 
and  to  lovers  of  pets  they  are  always  irresistible ;  but 
nowhere  are  they  more  so  than  at  Eleusis,  where  they 
add  their  mite  of  attractiveness  to  the  scene.  The 
grown-up  goat  is  far  from  pretty,  but  by  some  curious 
dispensation  of  nature  the  ugliest  of  animals  seem 
to  have  the  most  attractive  young,  and  the  frisking 
lambs  and  kids  of  Greece  furnish  striking  examples 
of  it. 

The  ride  back  to  the  city  must  be  begun  in  season 


132     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

to  get  the  sunset  light  on  the  west  front  of  the  Acro- 
pohs,  which  is  especially  effective  from  the  Eleusis 
road  all  the  way  from  Daphne's  Pass  to  the  city 
proper.  As  for  Salamis,  which  is  always  in  sight  until 
the  pass  is  crossed,  it  is  enough  to  say  that,  like 
Marathon,  it  is  a  place  of  memories  only.  The  bay 
that  one  sees  from  the  Eleusis  road  is  not  the  one  in 
which  the  great  naval  battle  was  fought.  That  lies 
on  the  other  side,  toward  the  open  gulf,  and  is  best 
seen  from  the  sea.  Few  care  to  make  a  special  excur- 
sion to  the  island  itself,  which  is  rocky  and  barren, 
and  after  all  the  chief  interest  is  in  its  immediate 
waters.  The  account  of  the  battle  in  Herodotus  is 
decidedly  worth  reading  on  the  spot,  and  to  this  day 
they  will  show  you  a  rocky  promontory  supposed  to 
have  been  the  point  where  Xerxes  had  his  throne 
placed  so  that  he  might  watch  the  fight  which  resulted 
so  disastrously  to  his  ships.  The  battle,  by  the  way, 
was  another  monument  to  the  wiles  of  Themistocles, 
who  recognized  in  the  bulwarks  of  the  ships  the 
"  wooden  walls  "  which  the  oracle  said  would  save 
Athens,  and  who,  when  he  found  the  commanders 
weakening,  secretly  sent  word  to  the  Persians  urg- 
ing them  to  close  in  and  fight.  This  was  done ;  and 
the  navy  being  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  conflict 
acquitted  itself  nobly. 

Of  the  other  local  excursions,  that  to  Marathon  is 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  133 

easily  made  in  a  day  by  carriage.  There  is  little  to 
see  there,  save  a  plain,  lined  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
mountains  which  look  on  Marathon,  and  on  the  other 
by  the  sea,  largely  girt  with  marshes.  The  lion  which 
once  crowned  the  tumulus  is  gone,  nobody  knows 
whither.  It  is  much,  however,  from  a  purely  senti- 
mental point  of  view,  to  have  stood  upon  the  site  it- 
self, the  scene  of  one  of  the  world's  famous  battles. 
Some  grudging  critics,  including  the  erudite  Mahaffy, 
incline  to  believe  that  Marathon  was  a  rather  small 
affair,  judged  by  purely  military  standards  —  a  con- 
flict of  one  undisciplined  host  with  an  even  less  dis- 
ciplined one,  in  an  age  when  battles  ordinarily  were 
won  by  an  endurance  of  nerve  in  the  face  of  a 
hand-to-hand  charge  rather  than  by  actual  carnage. 
These  maintain  that  the  chief  celebrity  of  Marathon 
rests  not  on  its  military  glories,  but  on  the  fame  which 
the  Athenians,  a  literary  race,  gave  it  in  song  and 
story.  But  even  these  have  to  admit  that  Marathon 
meant  much  to  history,  and  that  the  psychological 
effect  of  it  was  enormous,  as  showing  that  the  Per- 
sians were  by  no  means  invincible,  so  that  ten  years 
later  Salamis  put  the  finishing  blow  to  Persian  attempts 
on  the  west.  For  those  who  do  not  care  to  make  the 
long  ride  to  the  field  itself,  it  is  quite  possible  to 
obtain  a  view  of  the  plain  from  the  summit  of  Pen- 
telicus,  something  like  fifteen  miles  away,  although 


134    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

this  does  not  reveal  the  mound  marking  the  actual 
site. 

That  mountain's  chief  celebrity  is,  of  course,  to  be 
found  in  the  great  marble  quarries  from  which  came 
the  stone  for  the  Acropolis  temples,  and  it  is  these 
rather  than  the  view  of  Marathon  that  draw  climbers 
to  the  famous  height.  The  ancient  quarries  lie  far 
up  on  the  side  of  the  slope,  and  the  marks  of  the  old 
chisels  are  still  plainly  to  be  discerned.  The  difficul- 
ties of  getting  out  perfect  stone  in  the  ancient  days 
seem  to  have  been  enormous ;  but  that  they  were 
surmounted  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  the  great 
blocks  used  in  building  the  Parthenon  and  Propy- 
laea  were  handled  with  comparative  speed,  as  shown 
by  the  relatively  few  years  occupied  in  erecting  them. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  stone  was  slid  down  the 
mountain  side  in  chutes  to  the  point  where  it  was 
feasible  to  begin  carting  it.  Inherent  but  invisible 
defects  naturally  occurred,  and  these  the  ancients 
managed  to  detect  by  sounding  with  a  mallet.  Sam- 
ples of  these  imperfect  blocks  are  to  be  seen  lying 
where  they  fell  when  the  builders  rejected  them,  not 
only  on  the  road  by  the  quarries  but  on  the  Acropo- 
lis itself. 

Sunium,  the  famous  promontory  at  the  extremity 
of  the  Attic  peninsula,  may  be  reached  by  a  train 
on  the  road  that  serves  the  ancient  silver  mines  of 


thp:  temple  at  sunium 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  135 

Laurium,  but  as  the  trains  are  slow  and  infrequent 
it  is  better,  if  one  can,  to  go  down  by  sea.  Our  own 
visit  was  so  made,  the  vessel  landing  us  accommo- 
datingly at  the  foot  of  the  promontory  on  which  a 
few  columns  of  the  ancient  temple  are  still  standing. 
The  columns  that  remain  are  decidedly  whiter  than 
those  on  the  Acropolis,  and  the  general  effect  is 
highly  satisfying  to  one's  preconceived  ideas  of  Greek 
ruins.  Dispute  is  rife  as  to  the  particular  deity  to 
whom  this  shrine  was  anciently  consecrated,  and  the 
rivalry  lies  between  those  traditional  antagonists, 
Athena  and  Poseidon,  each  of  whom  advances  plau- 
sible claims.  How  the  case  can  be  decided  without 
another  contest  between  the  two,  like  that  supposed 
to  have  taken  place  on  the  Acropolis  itself  and  de- 
picted by  Pheidias,  is  not  clear.  For  who  shall  decide 
when  doctors  of  archaeology  disagree  ? 

The  chief  architectural  peculiarity  of  the  Sunium 
temple  is  the  arrangement  of  its  frontal  columns  "  in 
antis,"  —  that  is  to  say,  included  between  two  pro- 
jecting ends  of  the  side  walls.  And,  in  addition,  one 
regrets  to  say  that  the  ruin  is  peculiar  in  affording 
evidences  of  modern  vandalism  more  common  in  our 
own  country  than  in  Hellas,  namely,  the  scratching 
of  signatures  on  the  surface  of  the  stone.  All  sorts  of 
names  have  been  scrawled  there,  —  English,  French, 
Italian,  American,  Greek,  —  and  most  famous  of  all, 


136     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

no  doubt,  the  unblushing  signature  of  no  less  a  per- 
sonage than  Byron  himself !  Perhaps,  however,  it  is 
not  really  his.  There  may  be  isolated  instances  of 
this  low  form  of  vandalism  elsewhere,  but  I  do  not 
recall  any  that  can  compare  with  the  volume  of  de- 
facing scrawls  to  be  seen  at  Sunium, 

Lovelier  far  than  Sunium  is  the  situation  of  the 
temple  in  ^gina,  occupying  a  commanding  height 
in  that  large  and  lofty  island  on  the  other  side  of  the 
gulf,  opposite  the  Piraeus  and  perhaps  six  or  seven 
miles  distant  from  that  port.  The  journey  to  it  is 
necessarily  by  sea,  and  it  has  become  a  frequent 
objective  point  for  steamer  excursions  landing  near 
the  temple  itself  rather  than  at  the  distant  town.  In 
the  absence  of  a  steamer,  it  is  possible  to  charter 
native  boats  for  a  small  cost  and  with  a  fair  breeze 
make  the  run  across  the  bay  in  a  comparatively  brief 
time.  From  the  cove  where  parties  are  generally 
landed  the  temple  cannot  be  seen,  as  the  slopes  are 
covered  with  trees  and  the  shrine  itself  is  distant 
some  twenty  minutes  on  foot.  Donkeys  can  be  had, 
as  usual,  but  they  save  labor  rather  than  time,  and  the 
walk,  being  through  a  grove  of  fragrant  pines,  is  far 
from  arduous  or  fatiguing.  The  odor  of  the  pines  is 
most  agreeable,  the  more  so  because  after  one  has  so- 
journed for  a  brief  time  in  comparatively  treeless  At- 
tica one  is  the  more  ready  to  welcome  a  scent  of  the 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  137 

forest.  The  pungency  of  the  grove  is  due,  however, 
less  to  the  pine  needles  and  cones  than  to  the  tapping, 
or  rather  "  blazing,"  of  the  trunks  for  their  resin.  Un- 
der nearly  every  tree  will  be  found  stone  troughs,  into 
which  the  native  juice  of  the  tree  oozes  with  painful 
slowness.  The  resin,  of  course,  is  for  the  native  wines, 
which  the  Greek  much  prefers  flavored  with  that  in- 
gredient. The  drinking  of  resinated  wine  is  an  acquired 
taste,  so  far  as  foreigners  are  concerned.  Some  sol- 
emnly aver  that  they  like  it,  —  and  even  prefer  it  to 
the  unresinated  kind ;  but  the  average  man  not  to  the 
manner  born  declares  it  to  be  only  less  palatable  than 
medicine.  The  Greeks  maintain  that  the  resin  adds  to 
the  healthfulness  of  the  wines,  and  to  get  the  gum  they 
have  ruined  countless  pine  groves  by  this  tapping 
process  so  evident  in  the  ^gina  woods,  for  the  gashes 
cut  in  the  trees  have  the  effect  of  stunting  the  growth. 
After  a  steady  ascent  of  a  mile  or  so,  the  temple 
comes  suddenly  into  view,  framed  in  a  foreground  of 
green  boughs,  which  add  immensely  to  the  effective- 
ness of  the  picture,  and  which  make  one  regret  the 
passing  of  the  Greek  forests  in  other  places.  Once 
upon  a  time  the  ordinary  temple  must  have  gained 
greatly  by  reason  of  its  contrast  with  the  foliage  of 
the  surrounding  trees  ;  but  to-day  only  those  at  ^gina 
and  at  Bassse  present  this  feature  to  the  beholder.  This 
^gina  temple  is  variously  attributed  to  Athena  and 


138     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

to  Zeus  Panhellenius,  so  that,  as  at  Sunium,  there  is 
a  chance  for  doubt.  The  chief  peculiarity  seems  to  be 
that  the  entrance  door,  which  is  as  usual  in  the  eastern 
side,  is  not  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  cella.  The  col- 
umns are  still  standing  to  a  large  extent,  but  the  pedi- 
mental  sculptures  have  been  removed  to  Munich,  so 
that  the  spot  is  robbed,  as  the  Acropolis  is,  of  a  por- 
tion of  its  charm.  It  is  a  pity,  because  the  ^Eginetan 
pedimental  figures  were  most  interesting,  furnishing 
a  very  good  idea  of  the  ^ginetan  style  of  sculpture 
of  an  early  date.  The  figures  which  survive,  to  the 
number  of  seventeen,  in  a  very  fair  state  of  preserva- 
tion, represent  warriors  in  various  active  postures,  and 
several  draped  female  figures,  including  a  large  statue 
of  Athena.  Those  who  have  never  seen  these  at  Mu- 
nich are  doubtless  familiar  with  the  reproductions  in 
plaster  which  are  common  in  all  first-class  museums 
boasting  collections  of  Greek  masterpieces. 

The  island  of  ^gina,  which  is  large  and  mountain- 
ous, forms  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  gulf  in  which 
it  lies.  It  is  close  to  the  Peloponnesian  shore,  and  from 
the  temple  a  magnificent  view  is  outspread  in  every 
direction,  not  only  over  the  mountains  of  the  Argolid 
but  northward  toward  Corinth,  —  and  on  a  clear  day  it 
is  said  that  even  the  summit  of  Parnassus  can  be  de- 
scried. Directly  opposite  lies  Athens,  with  which  city 
the  island  long  maintained  a  successful  rivalry.  The 


THE   APPROACH    TO    ^GINA 


THE    TEMPLE    AT    yEGINA 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  139 

chief  celebrity  of  the  spot  was  achieved  under  its  in- 
dependent existence,  about  the  seventh  century  B.  c, 
and  before  Athens  subjugated  it.  It  was  then  tenanted 
by  colonists  from  Epidaurus,  who  had  the  commercial 
instinct,  and  who  made  ^gina  a  most  prosperous 
place.  The  name  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  nymph 
^gina,  who  was  brought  to  the  island  by  Zeus.  The 
hardy  ^Eginetan  sailors  were  an  important  factor  in 
the  battle  of  Salamis,  to  which  they  contributed  not 
only  men  but  sacred  images ;  and  they  were  not  en- 
tirely expelled  from  their  land  by  the  Athenian  domi- 
nation until  431  B.  C.  Thereafter  the  prominence  of 
the  city  dwindled  and  has  never  returned. 

It  remains  to  describe  an  excursion  which  we  made 
to  the  north  of  Athens  one  day  shortly  after  Easter,  to 
witness  some  peasant  dances.  These  particular  festivi- 
ties were  held  at  Menidi,  and  were  rather  less  exten- 
sive than  the  annual  Easter  dances  at  Megara,  but 
still  of  the  same  general  type  ;  and  as  they  constitute 
a  regular  spring  feature  of  Attic  life,  well  worth  seeing 
if  one  is  at  Athens  at  the  Easter  season,  it  is  not  out 
of  place  to  describe  them  here.  Either  Megara  or 
Menidi  may  be  reached  easily  by  train,  and  Menidi 
is  not  a  hard  carriage  ride,  being  only  six  miles  or  so 
north  of  Athens,  in  the  midst  of  the  plain.  It  may 
be  that  these  dances  are  direct  descendants  of  an- 
cient rites,  like  so  many  of  the  features  of  the  present 


140     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Orthodox  church ;  but  whatever  their  significance  and 
history,  they  certainly  present  the  best  opportunity  to 
see  the  peasantry  of  the  district  in  their  richest  gala 
array,  which  is  something  almost  too  gorgeous  to 
describe. 

The  drive  out  to  the  village  over  the  old  nortU  road 
was  dusty  and  hot,  and  we  were  haunted  by  a  fear 
that  the  dances  might  be  postponed,  as  occasionally 
happens.  These  doubts  were  removed,  however,  when 
Menidi  at  last  hove  in  sight  as  we  drove  over  an  un- 
dulation of  the  plain  and  came  suddenly  upon  the  vil- 
lage in  holiday  dress,  flags  waving,  peasant  girls  and 
swains  in  gala  garb,  and  streets  lined  with  booths  for 
the  vending  of  sweetmeats,  Syrian  peanuts,  pistachio 
nuts,  loukoumi,  and  what  the  New  England  mer- 
chant would  call  "  notions."  Indeed,  it  was  all  very 
suggestive  of  the  New  England  county  fair,  save  for 
the  gorgeousness  of  the  costumes.  The  streets  were 
thronged  and  everybody  was  in  a  high  good-humor. 
What  it  was  all  about  we  never  knew.  Conflicting 
reports  were  gleaned  from  the  natives,  some  to  the 
effect  that  it  was,  and  some  that  it  was  not,  essen- 
tially a  churchly  affair ;  but  all  agreed  apparently  that 
it  had  no  connection  with  the  Easter  feast,  although 
it  was  celebrated  something  like  five  days  thereafter. 
Others  mentioned  a  spring  as  having  something  to 
do  with  it,  —  suggesting  a  possible  pagan  origin. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  141 

This  view  gained  color  from  the  energy  with  which 
lusty  youths  were  manipulating  the  town  pump  in 
the  village  square,  causing  it  to  squirt  a  copious 
stream  to  a  considerable  distance,  —  a  performance 
in  which  the  bystanders  took  an  unflagging  and 
unbounded  delight.  That  the  celebration  was  not  de- 
void of  its  religious  significance  was  evident  from 
the  open  church  close  by  thronged  with  devout  peo- 
ple coming  and  going,  each  obtaining  a  thin  yellow 
taper  to  light  and  place  in  the  huge  many-branched 
candelabrum.  The  number  of  these  soon  became  so 
great  that  the  priests  removed  the  older  ones  and 
threw  them  in  a  heap  below,  to  make  room  for  fresh- 
lighted  candles.  Those  who  deposited  coins  in  the 
baptismal  font  near  the  door  were  rewarded  with  a 
sprinkling  of  water  by  the  attendant  priest,  who  con- 
stantly dipped  a  rose  in  the  font  and  shook  it  over 
those  who  sought  this  particular  form  of  benison. 

Outside,  the  square  was  thronged  with  merry- 
makers, some  dancing  in  the  solemn  Greek  fashion, 
in  a  circle  with  arms  extended  on  each  others'  shoul- 
ders, moving  slowly  around  and  around  to  the  mono- 
tonous wail  of  a  clarionet.  Others  were  seated  under 
awnings  sipping  coffee,  and  to  such  a  resort  we  were 
courteously  escorted  by  the  local  captain  of  the  gen- 
darmerie, whose  acquaintance  we  had  made  in  Athens 
and  who  proved  the  soul  of  hospitality.   Here  we  sat 


142     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

and  drank  the  delicious  thick  coffee,  accompanied  by 
the  inevitable  huge  beaker  of  water  drawn  from  the 
rocky  slopes  of  Parnes,  and  watched  the  dancers  and 
the  passing  crowds.  The  dress  of  the  men  was  seldom 
conspicuous.  Many  wore  European  clothes  like  our 
own,  although  here  and  there  might  be  seen  one  in 
the  national  costume  of  full  white  skirts  and  close- 
fitting  leggings,  leather  wallet,  and  zouave  jacket. 
But  the  women  were  visions  of  incomparable  mag- 
nificence. Their  robes  were  in  the  main  of  white,  but 
the  skirts  were  decked  with  the  richest  of  woolen 
embroideries,  heavy  and  thick,  extending  for  several 
inches  upward  from  the  lower  hem,  in  a  profusion  of 
rich  reds,  blues,  and  browns.  Aprons  similarly  adorned 
were  worn  above.  Most  impressive  of  all,  however, 
were  the  sleeveless  overgarments  or  coats,  such  as 
we  had  seen  and  bickered  over  in  Shoe  Lane,  — 
coats  of  white  stuff,  bordered  with  a  deep  red  facing 
and  overlaid  with  intricate  tracery  in  gold  lace  and 
gold  braid.  These  were  infinitely  finer  than  any  we  had 
seen  in  the  Athens  shops,  and  they  made  the  scene 
gay  indeed  with  a  barbaric  splendor.  To  add  to  the 
gorgeousness  of  the  display,  the  girls  wore  flat  caps, 
bordered  with  gold  lace  and  coins,  giving  the  effect  of 
crowns,  flowing  veils  which  did  not  conceal  the  face 
but  fell  over  the  shoulders,  and  on  their  breasts  many 
displayed  a  store  of  gold  and  silver  coins  arranged  as 


PEASANT    DANCERS    AT    MENIDI 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  143 

bangles  —  their  dowries,  it  was  explained.  Most  of 
these  young  women  were  betrothed,  it  developed, 
and  custom  dictated  this  parade  of  the  marriage  por- 
tion, which  is  no  small  part  of  the  Greek  wedding 
arrangement.  The  cuffs  of  the  full  white  sleeves  were 
embroidered  like  the  aprons  and  skirt  bottoms,  and 
the  whole  effect  was  such  as  to  be  impossible  of  ade- 
quate description. 

One  comely  damsel,  whose  friends  clamored  us  to 
photograph  her,  scampered  nimbly  into  her  court- 
yard, only  to  be  dragged  forth  bodily  by  a  proud 
young  swain,  who  announced  himself  her  betrothed 
and  who  insisted  that  she  pose  for  the  picture,  willy- 
nilly,  —  which  she  did,  joining  amiably  in  the  general 
hilarity,  and  exacting  a  promise  of  a  print  when  the 
picture  should  be  finished.  The  ice  once  broken,  the 
entire  peasant  population  became  seized  with  a  desire 
to  be  photographed,  and  it  was  only  the  beginning 
of  the  great  dance  that  dissolved  the  clamoring 
throng. 

The  dance  was  held  on  a  broad  level  space,  just 
east  of  the  town,  about  which  a  crowd  had  already 
gathered.  We  were  escorted  thither  and  duly  pre- 
sented to  the  demarch,  or  mayor,  who  bestowed  upon 
us  the  freedom  of  the  city  and  the  hospitality  of  his 
own  home  if  we  required  it.  He  was  a  handsome  man, 
dressed  in  a  black  cut-away  coat  and  other  garments 


144    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  a  decidedly  civilized  nature,  which  seemed  curi- 
ously incongruous  in  those  surroundings,  as  indeed 
did  his  own  face,  which  was  pronouncedly  Hibernian 
and  won  for  him  the  sobriquet  of  "  O'Sullivan  "  on 
the  spot.  His  stay  with  us  was  brief,  for  the  dance  was 
to  begin,  and  nothing  would  do  but  the  mayor  should 
lead  the  first  two  rounds.  This  he  did  with  much 
grace,  though  we  were  told  that  he  did  not  relish  the 
task,  and  only  did  it  because  if  he  balked  the  votes 
at  the  next  election  would  go  to  some  other  aspirant. 
The  dance  was  simple  enough,  being  a  mere  solemn 
circling  around  of  a  long  procession  of  those  gor- 
geous maidens,  numbering  perhaps  a  hundred  or 
more,  hand  in  hand  and  keeping  time  to  the  music 
of  a  quaint  band  composed  of  drum,  clarionet,  and 
a  sort  of  penny  whistle.  The  demarch  danced  best 
of  all,  and  after  two  stately  rounds  of  the  green  in- 
closure  left  the  circle  and  watched  the  show  at  his 
leisure,  his  face  beaming  with  the  sweet  conscious- 
ness of  political  security  and  duty  faithfully  per- 
formed. 

How  long  the  dance  went  on  we  never  knew.  The 
evening  was  to  be  marked  by  a  display  of  fireworks, 
the  frames  for  which  were  already  in  evidence  and 
betokened  a  magnificence  in  keeping  with  the  cos- 
tumes of  the  celebrants.  For  ourselves,  satiated  with 
the  display,  we  returned  to  our  carriage  laden  with 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA  145 

flowers,  pistachio  nuts,  and  strings  of  beads  bestowed 
by  the  abundant  local  hospitality,  and  bowled  home 
across  the  plain  in  time  to  be  rewarded  with  a  fine 
sunset  glow  on  the  Parthenon  as  a  fitting  close  for  a 
most  unusual  and  enjoyable  day. 


CHAPTER  VIII.     DELPHI 


THE  pilgrimage  to  Delphi,  which  used  to  be 
fraught  with  considerable  hardship  and  incon- 
venience, is  happily  so  no  longer.  It  is  still  true  that 
the  Greek  steamers  plying  between  the  Piraeus  and 
Itea,  the  port  nearest  the  ancient  oracular  shrine,  leave 
much  to  be  desired  and  are  by  no  means  to  be  depended 
upon  to  keep  to  their  schedules  ;  but  aside  from  this 
minor  difficulty  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  the  ordinary 
visitor  from  making  the  journey,  which  is  far  and  away 
the  best  of  all  ordinary  short  rambles  in  Greece,  not 
only  because  of  the  great  celebrity  of  the  site  itself,  but 
because  of  the  imposing  scenic  attractions  Delphi  has 
to  show.  The  old-time  drawback,  the  lack  of  decent 
accommodation  at  Delphi  itself,  or  to  be  more  exact, 
at  the  modern  village  of  Kastri,  has  been  removed  by 
the  presence  of  two  inns,  of  rather  limited  capacity,  it 
is  true,  but  still  affording  very  tolerable  lodging.  In- 
deed, hearsay  reported  the  newer  of  these  tiny  hostel- 


DELPHI  147 

ries  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  Greece  outside  of  Athens, 
while  the  other  quaint  resort,  owned  and  operated  by 
the  amiable  Vasili  Paraskevas,  one  of  the  "  local  charac- 
ters "  of  the  place,  has  long  been  esteemed  by  Hellenic 
visitors.  Vasili,  in  appearance  almost  as  formidable  as 
the  ancient  Polyphemus,  but  in  all  else  as  gentle  as  the 
sucking  dove,  has  felt  the  force  of  competition,  and  his 
advertisements  easily  rival  those  of  the  Hotel  Cecil. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  establishment  is  delightfully 
primitive,  seemingly  hanging  precariously  to  the  very 
edge  of  the  deep  ravine  that  lies  just  under  lofty  Delphi, 
boasting  several  small  rooms  and  even  the  promise  of 
a  bath-tub,  although  Vasili  was  forced  to  admit  that 
his  advertisement  in  that  respect  was  purely  prospec- 
tive and  indicative  of  intention  rather  than  actuality. 
The  truly  adventurous  may  still  approach  Delphi 
over  the  ancient  road  by  land  from  the  eastward,  doubt- 
less the  same  highway  that  was  taken  by  old  King 
Laios  when  he  was  slain  on  his  way  to  the  oracle,  all 
unwitting  of  the  kinship,  by  his  own  son  CEdipus,  — 
possibly  because  of  a  dispute  as  to  which  should  yield 
the  road.  For  the  old  road  was  a  narrow  one,  with 
deep  ruts,  suitable  for  a  single  chariot,  but  productive 
of  frequent  broils  when  two  such  haughty  spirits  met 
on  the  way.  To  come  to  Delphi  over  this  road  and 
to  depart  by  sea  is  doubtless  the  ideal  plan.  That  we 
elected  not  to  take  the  land  voyage  was  due  to  the 


148     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

early  spring  season,  with  its  snows  on  the  shoulder  of 
Parnassus,  around  which  the  path  winds.  For  those 
less  hindered  by  the  season,  it  is  said  that  the  journey 
overland  from  Livadia  to  Delphi,  passing  through 
the  tiny  hamlet  of  Arakhova  and  possibly  spending 
a  night  in  the  open  air  on  Parnassus,  is  well  worth 
the  trouble,  and  justifies  the  expense  of  a  courier  and 
horses,  both  of  which  are  necessary. 

The  way  which  we  chose,  besides  being  infinitely 
easier,  is  far  from  being  devoid  of  its  interesting  fea- 
tures. We  set  sail  in  the  early  afternoon  from  the  Pi- 
raeus, passing  over  a  glassy  sea  by  Psyttalea,  and  the 
famous  waters  in  front  of  Salamis,  to  Corinth,  where 
the  canal  proved  sufficiently  wide  to  let  our  little  craft 
steam  through  to  the  gulf  beyond.  It  was  in  the  gath- 
ering dusk  that  we  entered  this  unusual  channel,  but 
still  it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  entire  length  of  the 
canal,  along  the  deep  sides  of  which  electric  lamps 
glimmered  few  and  faint  as  a  rather  ineffectual  illumi- 
nant  of  the  tow-path  on  either  hand.  The  walls  towered 
above,  something  like  two  hundred  feet  in  spots,  and 
never  very  low,  making  this  four-mile  ribbon  of  water 
between  the  narrow  seas  a  gloomy  cavern  indeed.  It 
was  wide  enough  for  only  one  craft  of  the  size  of  our 
own,  therein  resembling  the  land  highway  to  Delphi ; 
but  fortunately,  owing  to  the  system  of  semaphore 
signals,  no  CEdipus  disputed  the  road  with  us,  and  we 


DELPHI  149 

shot  swiftly  through  the  channel,  between  its  towering 
walls  of  rock,  under  the  spidery  railroad  bridge  that 
spans  it  near  the  Corinth  end,  and  out  into  the  gulf 
beyond.  It  is  rather  a  nice  job  of  steering,  this  passage 
of  the  canal.  Everybody  was  ordered  off  the  bow,  three 
men  stood  nervously  at  the  wheel,  and  the  jack  staff 
was  kept  centred  on  the  bright  line  that  distantly 
marked  the  opening  between  the  precipitous  sides  of 
the  cleft,  a  line  of  light  that  gradually  widened,  reveal- 
ing another  sea  and  a  different  land  as  we  drew  near 
and  looked  out  of  our  straight  and  narrow  path  of 
water  into  the  Corinthian  Gulf  beyond.  The  magnifi- 
cence of  the  prospect  would  be  hard  indeed  to  exag- 
gerate. On  either  side  of  the  narrow  gulf  rose  billowy 
mountains,  the  northern  line  of  summits  dominated  by 
the  snowy  dome  of  Parnassus,  the  southern  by  Cyllene, 
likewise  covered  with  white.  They  were  ghostly  in 
the  darkness,  which  the  moon  relieved  only  a  little, 
shining  fitfully  from  an  overcast  sky.  The  Corinthian 
Gulf  is  fine  enough  from  the  railway  which  skirts  it 
all  the  way  to  Patras,  but  it  is  finer  far  from  the  sea, 
whence  one  sees  both  sides  at  once  in  all  the  glory  of 
their  steep  gray  mountains.  Happily  the  night  was 
calm,  and  the  gulf,  which  can  be  as  bad  as  the  English 
Channel  at  its  worst,  was  smooth  for  once  as  we  swung 
away  from  the  little  harbor  of  modern  Corinth  and  laid 
our  course  for  the  capes  off  Itea,  something  like  forty 


I50     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

miles  away.  And  thus  we  went  to  rest,  the  steamer 
plowing  steadily  on  through  the  night  with  Parnassus 
towering  on  the  starboard  quarter. 

A  vigorous  blowing  of  the  whistle  roused  the  ship's 
company  at  dawn.  The  vessel  was  at  anchor  off  Itea, 
a  starveling  village  not  at  all  praised  by  those  who 
have  been  forced  to  sample  its  meagre  accommoda- 
tions for  a  night.  Fortunately  it  is  no  longer  necessary 
to  rely  on  these,  for  one  may  drive  to  Delphi  in  a  few 
hours,  and  on  a  moonlight  night  the  ride,  while  chilly, 
is  said  to  be  most  delightful.  Arriving  as  we  did  at 
early  dawn,  we  were  deprived  of  this  experience,  and 
set  out  from  the  village  at  once  on  landing  to  cover  the 
nine  miles  to  Kastri,  some  riding  in  carriages  or  spring 
carts, — locally  called  "sustas," — some  on  mules, 
and  others  proceeding  on  foot.  From  afar  we  could 
already  see  the  village,  perched  high  on  the  side  of  the 
foothills  of  Parnassus,  which  rise  abruptly  some  three 
miles  away  across  a  level  plain.  The  plain  proved  to 
be  delightful.  Walled  in  on  either  hand  by  rocky  cliffs, 
its  whole  bottom  was  filled  with  olive  trees,  through 
which  vast  grove  the  road  wound  leisurely  along. 
Brooks  babbled  by  through  the  grass  of  the  great 
orchard,  and  the  green  of  the  herbage  was  spangled 
with  innumerable  anemones  and  other  wild-flowers  in 
a  profusion  of  color.  Far  behind  us  in  the  background 
towered  the  Peloponnesian  mountains,  and  before  rose 


DELPHI  151 

the  forbidding  cliffs  that  shut  in  Delphi.  Above  the 
distant  Kastri,  there  was  always  the  lofty  summit  of 
Parnassus,  somewhat  dwarfed  by  proximity  and  there- 
fore a  trifle  disappointing  to  one  whose  preconceived 
notions  of  that  classic  mountain  demanded  splendid 
isolation,  but  still  impressive. 

Naturally  on  this  long,  level  plain  the  carriages  soon 
passed  us,  and  disappeared  in  the  hills  ahead,  while 
the  footpath  left  the  highway  and  plunged  off  boldly 
into  the  olive  grove  in  the  general  direction  of  Delphi. 
When  it  attained  the  base  of  the  sharp  ascent  of  the 
mountain-side,  it  went  straight  up,  leaving  the  road  to 
find  its  more  gradual  way  by  zigzags  and  detours,  — 
windings  so  long  that  it  soon  developed  that  the  car- 
riages which  so  long  ago  had  distanced  us  were  in  turn 
displaced  and  were  later  seen  toiling  up  the  steep  be- 
hind us !  The  prospect  rearward  was  increasingly  lovely 
as  we  climbed  and  looked  down  upon  the  plain.  It 
resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  sea  of  verdure,  the 
olive  trees  pouring  into  it  from  the  uplands  like  a 
river,  and  filling  it  from  bank  to  bank.  No  wonder 
this  plain  was  deemed  a  ground  worth  fighting  for  by 
the  ancients. 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  snows  of  Parnassus  were 
apparently  so  near,  the  climb  was  warm.  The  rocky 
hillside  gave  back  the  heat  of  the  April  sun,  although 
it  was  cloudy,  and  progress  became  necessarily  slow, 


152     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

in  part  because  of  the  warmth  and  in  larger  part  be- 
cause of  the  increasing  splendor  of  the  view.  The  path 
bore  always  easterly  into  a  narrow  gorge  between  two 
massive  mountains,  a  gorge  that  narrowed  and  nar- 
rowed as  the  climb  proceeded.  Before  very  long  we 
passed  through  a  wayside  hamlet  that  lies  halfway  up 
the  road,  exchanged  greetings  with  the  inhabitants, 
who  proved  a  friendly  people  anxious  to  set  us  right 
on  the  way  to  Delphi,  and  speedily  emerged  from  the 
nest  of  buildings  on  the  path  again,  with  Kastri  always 
ahead  and  above,  and  seemingly  as  distant  as  ever.  It 
was  Palm  Sunday,  we  discovered,  and  the  populace  of 
the  tiny  village  all  bore  sprigs  of  greenery,  which  they 
pressed  upon  us  and  which  later  turned  out  to  be  more 
political  than  religious  in  their  significance,  since  it  was 
not  only  the  day  of  the  Lord's  triumphal  entry  but  the 
closing  day  of  the  general  elections  as  well. 

Admiration  for  the  green  and  fertile  valley  far  be- 
hind now  gave  place  to  awe  at  the  grim  gorges  before 
and  the  beetling  clifTs  towering  overhead,  up  through 
which,  like  dark  chimney  flues,  ran  deep  clefts  in  the 
rock,  gloomy  and  mysterious,  and  doubtless  potent  in 
producing  awe  in  the  ancient  mind  by  thus  adding 
to  the  impressiveness  of  god-haunted  Delphi.  On  the 
left  the  mountain  rose  abruptly  and  loftily  to  the 
blue ;  on  the  right  the  cliff  descended  sharply  from 
the  path  to  the  dark  depths  of  the  ravine,  while  close 


DELPHI  153 

on  its  other  side  rose  again  a  neighboring  mountain 
that  inclosed  this  ever-narrowing  gulch. 

At  last  after  a  three-hour  scramble  over  the  rocks 
we  attained  Kastri,  and  found  it  a  poor  town  lined 
with  hovels,  but,  like  Mount  Zion,  beautiful  for  situa- 
tion. A  brawling  brook,  fed  by  a  spring  above,  dashed 
across  the  single  street  and  lost  itself  in  the  depths  of 
the  ravine  below.  On  either  hand  towered  the  steep 
sides  of  the  surrounding  cliffs,  while  before  us  the  val- 
ley wound  around  a  shoulder  of  the  mountain  and 
seemingly  closed  completely.  Kastri  did  not  always 
occupy  this  site,  but  once  stood  farther  along  around 
the  mountain's  sharp  corner,  directly  over  the  ancient 
shrine  itself ;  and  it  was  necessary  for  the  French  ex- 
cavators who  laid  bare  the  ancient  sites  to  have  the 
village  moved  bodily  by  force  and  arms  before  any 
work  could  be  done,  —  a  task  that  was  accomplished 
w^ith  no  little  difficulty,  but  which,  when  completed, 
enabled  the  exploration  of  what  was  once  the  most 
famous  of  all  Pagan  religious  shrines.  Curiously 
enough  the  restoration  of  the  temples  at  Delphi  fell 
to  the  hands  of  the  French,  the  descendants  of  those 
very  Gauls  who,  centuries  before,  had  laid  waste  the 
shrines  and  treasuries  of  Loxias.  We  stopped  long 
enough  at  Vasili's  to  sample  some  "mastika,"  —  a 
native  liqueur  resembling  anisette,  very  refreshing  on 
a  warm  day,  —  and  then  walked  on  to  the  ruins  which 


154     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

lie  some  few  minutes'  walk  farther  around  the  shoul- 
der of  the  mountain. 

Nothing  could  well  be  more  impressive  than  the 
prospect  that  opened  out  as  we  came  down  to  the 
famous  site  itself.  No  outlet  of  the  great  vale  was  to 
be  seen  from  this  point,  for  the  gorge  winds  about 
among  the  crags  which  rise  high  above  and  drop  far 
below  to  the  base  of  the  rocky  glen.  Human  habita- 
tion there  is  none.  Kastri  was  now  out  of  sight  behind. 
On  the  roadside  and  in  the  more  gradual  slopes  of  the 
ravine  below  one  might  find  olive  trees,  and  here  and 
there  a  plane.  Beyond,  through  the  mysterious  wind- 
ings of  the  defile  runs  the  road  to  Arakhova.  It  was 
on  this  spot  that  Apollo  had  his  most  famous  shrine, 
the  abode  of  his  accredited  priestesses  gifted  with  pro- 
phecy; and  no  fitter  habitation  for  the  oracle  could 
have  been  found  by  the  worshipers  of  old  time  than 
this  gloomy  mountain  glen  where  nature  conspires 
with  herself  to  overawe  mankind  by  her  grandeur. 

The  legend  has  it  that  Apollo,  born  as  all  the  world 
knows  in  far-off  Delos,  transferred  his  chief  seat  to 
Delphi  just  after  his  feat  of  slaying  the  Python.  He  is 
said  to  have  followed  that  exploit  by  leaping  into  the 
sea,  where  he  assumed  the  form  of  a  huge  dolphin 
(delphis),  and  in  this  guise  he  directed  the  course  of 
a  passing  Cretan  ship  to  the  landing  place  at  Itea,  or 
Crissa.  There,  suddenly  resuming  his  proper  shape  of 


DELPHI  155 

a  beautiful  youth  he  led  the  wondering  crew  of  the 
vessel  up  from  the  shore  to  the  present  site  of  Delphi, 
proclaimed  himself  the  god,  and  persuaded  the  sailors 
to  remain  there,  build  a  temple  and  become  his  priests, 
calling  the  spot  **  Delphi."  Tradition  also  asks  us  to 
believe  that  there  then  existed  on  the  spot  a  cavern, 
from  which  issued  vapors  having  a  peculiar  effect  on 
the  human  mind,  producing  in  those  who  breathed 
them  a  stupor  in  which  the  victim  raved,  uttering 
words  which  were  supposed  to  be  prophetic.  Over  this 
cave,  if  it  existed,  the  temple  was  erected ;  and  therein 
the  priestess,  seated  on  a  tripod  where  she  might  in- 
hale the  vapors,  gave  out  her  answers  to  suppliants, 
which  answers  the  corps  of  priests  later  rendered  into 
hexameter  verses  having  the  semblance  of  sense,  but 
generally  so  ambiguous  as  to  admit  of  more  than  one 
interpretation.  All  sorts  of  tales  are  told  of  the  effect 
of  the  mephitic  gas  on  the  pythoness —  how  she  would 
writhe  in  uncontrollable  fury,  how  her  hair  would  rise 
on  her  head  as  she  poured  forth  her  unintelligible  gib- 
berish, and  so  forth  ;  stories  well  calculated  to  impress 
a  credulous  race  "  much  given  to  religion"  as  St.  Paul 
so  sagely  observed.  If  there  ever  was  any  such  cavern 
at  all,  it  has  disappeared,  possibly  filled  with  the  debris 
of  the  ruins  or  closed  by  earthquake.  Perhaps  there 
never  was  any  cave  at  all.  In  any  event  the  wonders 
of  the  Delphic  oracle  were  undoubtedly  explicable, 


156    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

as  such  phenomena  nearly  always  are,  by  perfectly 
natural  facts.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  corps 
of  priests,  visited  continually  as  they  were  by  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  ancient  world,  were  probably  the 
best  informed  set  of  men  on  earth,  and  the  sum  total 
of  their  knowledge  thus  gleaned  so  far  surpassed  that 
of  the  ordinary  mortal  and  so  far  exceeded  the  average 
comprehension  that  what  w^as  perfectly  natural  was 
easily  made  to  appear  miraculous.  To  the  already  awed 
suppliant,  predisposed  to  belief  and  impressed  by  the 
wonderful  natural  surroundings  of  the  place,  it  was 
not  hard  to  pass  off  this  world-wide  information  as  in- 
spired truth.  Nor  was  it  a  long  step  from  this,  especially 
for  clever  men  such  as  the  priests  seem  to  have  been, 
to  begin  forecasting  future  events  by  basing  shrewd 
guesses  on  data  already  in  hand  —  these  guesses  being 
received  with  full  faith  by  the  worshiper  as  god-given 
prophecy.  As  an  added  safeguard  the  priests  often 
handed  down  their  predictions  in  ambiguous  form,  as, 
for  example,  in  the  famous  answer  sent  to  Croesus, 
when  he  asked  if  he  should  venture  an  expedition 
against  Cyrus  —  "If  Croesus  shall  attack  Cyrus,  he 
will  destroy  a  great  empire."  Such  answers  were  of 
course  agreeable  to  the  suppliant,  for  they  admitted 
of  flattering  interpretation  ;  and  it  was  only  after  trial 
that  Croesus  discovered  that  the  "  great  empire  "  he 
was  fated  to  destroy  was  his  own.  At  other  times  the 


THE  VAl 


DELPHI 


DELPHI  157 

guesses,  not  in  ambiguous  form,  went  sadly  astray  — 
as  in  the  case  where  the  Pythian,  after  balancing  prob- 
abilities and  doubtless  assuming  that  the  gods  were 
always  on  the  side  of  the  heaviest  battalions,  advised 
the  Athenians  not  to  hope  to  conquer  the  invading 
Persians.  This  erroneous  estimate  was  the  natural  one 
for  informed  persons  to  make,  —  and  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  it  was  influenced  in  part  by  presents  from 
the  Persian  king,  for  such  corruption  of  the  oracle  was 
by  no  means  unknown.  In  fact  it  led  to  the  ultimate 
discrediting  of  the  oracle,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
the  shrine  ceased  to  be  revered  as  a  fountain  of  good 
advice.  Nevertheless  for  many  hundred  years  it  was 
held  in  unparalleled  veneration  by  the  whole  ancient 
world.  Pilgrims  came  and  went.  Cities  and  states 
maintained  rich  treasuries  there,  on  which  was  founded 
a  considerable  banking  system.  Games  in  honor  of 
Pythian  Apollo  were  celebrated  in  the  stadium  which 
is  still  to  be  seen  high  up  on  the  mountain-side  above 
the  extensive  ruins  of  the  sacred  precinct.  Temple 
after  temple  arose  about  the  great  main  shrine  of  the 
god.  Even  distant  Cnidus  erected  a  treasury,  and 
victorious  powers  set  up  trophy  after  trophy  there  for 
battles  won  by  land  or  sea  —  the  politeness  of  the 
time  preventing  the  mention  of  any  Hellenic  victim 
by  name. 

All  these  remains  have  been  patiently  uncovered 


158     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

and  laboriously  identijfied  and  labeled,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  voluminous  writings  of  that  patron  saint 
of  travelers,  Pausanias.  The  work  was  done  under  the 
direction  of  the  erudite  French  school,  and  the  visitor 
of  to-day,  provided  with  the  plan  in  his  guide-book 
and  aided  by  the  numerous  guide-posts  erected  on 
the  spot,  will  find  his  way  about  with  much  ease.  One 
of  the  buildings,  the  "  treasury  of  the  Athenians,"  a 
small  structure  about  the  size  of  the  Nike  Apteros 
temple,  is  being  "  restored  "  by  the  excavators,  but 
with  rather  doubtful  success.  Aside  from  this  one  in- 
stance, the  ruins  are  mainly  reconstructible  only  in  the 
imagination  from  the  visible  ground-plans  and  from 
the  fragments  lying  all  about.  In  the  museum  close  by, 
however,  some  fractional  restorations  indoors  serve 
to  give  a  very  excellent  idea  of  the  appearance  of  at 
least  two  of  the  ancient  buildings. 

Space  and  the  intended  scope  of  this  narrative  alike 
forbid  anything  like  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  nu- 
merous ruins  that  line  the  zigzag  course  of  the  old 
"sacred  way."  The  visitor,  thanks  to  the  ability  of 
the  French  school,  is  left  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  identity 
of  the  buildings,  and  the  wayfaring  man,  though  no 
archaeologist,  need  not  err.  One  may  remark  in  pass- 
ing, however,  the  curious  polygonal  wall  of  curved 
stones  still  standing  along  a  portion  of  the  way  and 
still  bearing  the  remnant  of  a  colonnade,  with  an  in- 


DELPHI  159 

scription  indicating  that  once  a  trophy  was  set  up  here 
by  the  Athenians,  —  possibly  the  beaks  of  conquered 
ships.  Of  course  the  centre  and  soul  of  the  whole  pre- 
cinct was  the  great  temple  of  Apollo,  now  absolutely 
flat  in  ruins,  but  once  a  grand  edifice  indeed.  The 
Alcmaeonidae,  who  had  the  contract  for  building  it, 
surprised  and  delighted  everybody  by  building  better 
than  the  terms  of  their  agreement  demanded,  provid- 
ing marble  ends  for  the  temple  and  pedimental  adorn- 
ment as  well,  when  the  letter  of  the  contract  would 
have  been  satisfied  with  native  stone.  Thus  shrewdly 
did  a  family  that  was  in  temporary  disfavor  at  Athens 
win  its  way  back  to  esteem  ! 

However  easy  it  may  be  to  explain  with  some 
plausibility  the  ordinary  feats  of  the  oracle  at  Delphi 
as  accomplished  by  purely  natural  means,  there  was 
an  occasional  tour  de  force  that  even  to-day  would 
pass  for  miraculous  —  supposing  that  there  be  any 
truth  in  the  stories  as  originally  told.  The  most 
notable  instance  was  one  in  which  Croesus  figured. 
That  wealthy  monarch  was  extremely  partial  to  or- 
acles, and  generally  consulted  them  before  any  con- 
siderable undertaking.  On  the  occasion  in  question 
he  contemplated  an  expedition  against  Cyrus  —  the 
same  which  he  eventually  undertook  because  of  the 
enigmatic  answer  before  referred  to — and  made  ex- 
traordinary preparations  to  see  that  the  advice  given 


i6o    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

him  was  trustworthy.  For  Croesus,  with  all  his  cre- 
dulity, was  inclined  to  be  canny,  and  proposed  to  test 
the  powers  of  the  more  famous  oracular  shrines  by 
a  little  experiment.  So  he  sent  different  persons,  ac- 
cording to  Herodotus,  to  the  various  oracles  in 
Greece  and  even  in  Libya,  "some  to  Phocis,  some  to 
Dodona,  others  to  Amphiaraus  and  Trophonius,  and 
others  to  Branchidse  of  Milesia,  and  still  others  to 
Ammon  in  Libya.  He  sent  them  in  different  ways, 
desiring  to  make  trial  of  what  the  oracle  knew,  in 
order  that,  if  they  should  be  found  to  know  the  truth, 
he  might  send  a  second  time  to  inquire  whether  he 
should  venture  to  make  war  on  the  Persians.  He  laid 
upon  them  the  following  orders  :  That,  computing  the 
days  from  the  time  of  their  departure  from  Sardis, 
they  should  consult  the  oracles  on  the  hundredth 
day  by  asking  what  Croesus,  the  son  of  Alyattes,  was 
then  doing.  They  were  to  bring  back  the  answer  in 
writing.  Now  what  the  answers  were  that  were  given 
by  the  other  oracles  is  mentioned  by  none;  but  no 
sooner  had  the  Lydian  ambassadors  entered  the 
temple  at  Delphi  and  asked  the  question  than  the 
Pythian  spoke  thus,  in  hexameter  verse :  '  I  know 
the  number  of  the  sands  and  the  measure  of  the  sea ; 
I  understand  the  dumb  and  hear  him  that  does  not 
speak ;  the  savor  of  the  hard-shelled  tortoise  boiled 
in  brass  with  the  flesh  of  lambs  strikes  on  my  senses  ; 


L 


L 


DELPHI  i6i 

brass  is  laid  beneath  it  and  brass  is  put  over  it'  Now 
of  all  the  answers  opened  by  Croesus  none  pleased  him 
but  only  this.  And  when  he  had  heard  the  answer  from 
Delphi  he  adored  it  and  approved  it,  and  was  con- 
vinced that  the  pythoness  of  Delphi  was  a  real  oracle 
because  she  alone  had  interpreted  what  he  had  done. 
For  when  he  sent  out  his  messengers  to  the  several 
oracles,  watching  for  the  appointed  day,  he  had  re- 
course to  the  following  contrivance,  having  thought 
of  what  it  was  impossible  to  discover  or  guess  at.  He 
cut  up  a  tortoise  and  a  lamb  and  boiled  them  him- 
self together  in  a  brazen  caldron,  and  laid  over  it  a 
cover  of  brass."  ^ 

Thus,  on  one  occasion,  the  oracle  is  supposed  to 
have  performed  a  feat  of  what  we  should  now  set 
down  as  telepathy,  and  which,  if  it  really  happened, 
would  be  explicable  in  no  other  way.  It  sufficed  to 
establish  Delphi  as  a  shrine  to  be  revered,  in  the  mind 
of  Crcesus,  and  to  propitiate  the  god  he  sent  mag- 
nificent gifts.  And  as  these  may  serve  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  vast  riches  of  the  spot  in  bygone  ages,  it 
may  be  well  to  relate  here  what  Crcesus  is  supposed 
to  have  sent.  Herodotus  relates  that  he  made  a  pro- 
digious sacrifice,  in  the  flames  of  which  he  melted 
down  an  incredible  amount  of  gold  and  silver.  "  Out 
of  the  metal  thus  melted  down  he  cast  half-bricks,  of 

'  Herodotus,  Book  I,  sections  46-48. 


i62    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

which  the  longest  was  six  palms  in  length,  the  short- 
est three ;  and  in  thickness,  each  was  one  palm. 
Their  number  was  one  hundred  and  seventeen.  Four 
of  these,  of  pure  gold,  weighed  each  two  talents 
and  a  half.  The  other  bricks,  of  pale  gold,  weighed 
two  talents  each.  He  made  also  the  figure  of  a  lion, 
of  fine  gold,  weighing  ten  talents.  This  lion,  when 
the  temple  at  Delphi  was  burned  down,  fell  from  its 
pedestal  of  half-bricks,  for  it  was  placed  upon  them. 
It  now  lies  in  the  treasury  of  the  Corinthians,  weigh- 
ing only  six  talents  and  a  half,  —  for  three  talents  and 
a  half  were  melted  from  it  in  the  fire.  Croesus,  hav- 
ing finished  these  things,  sent  them  to  Delphi,  and 
with  them  the  following :  two  large  bowls,  one  of  gold 
and  one  of  silver.  The  golden  one  was  placed  on  the 
right  as  one  enters  the  temple,  and  that  of  silver 
on  the  left ;  but  they  were  removed  when  the  temple 
was  burning,  and  the  gold  bowl  was  set  in  the 
treasury  of  the  Clazomense ;  while  the  silver  one, 
which  contains  six  hundred  amphorae,  lies  in  a  cor- 
ner of  the  Propylsea,  and  is  used  for  mixing  wine  on 
the  Theophanian  festival.  The  Delians  said  it  was  the 
work  of  Theodorus  the  Samian,  which  was  probably 
true,  for  it  was  no  common  work.  He  sent  also  four 
casks  of  silver,  which  also  stand  in  the  Corinthian 
treasury;  and  he  dedicated  two  lustral  vases,  one 
of  gold  and  the  other  of  silver.  The  Spartans  claim 


DELPHI  163 

that  the  golden  one  was  their  offering,  for  it  bears  an 
inscription,  *  From  the  Lacedaemonians  ; '  but  this 
is  wrong,  for  Croesus  gave  it.  He  sent  many  other 
offerings,  among  them  some  round  silver  covers,  and 
also  a  golden  statue  of  a  woman,  three  cubits  high, 
which  the  Delphians  say  is  the  image  of  Croesus's 
baking-woman.  And  to  all  these  things  he  added 
the  necklaces  and  girdles  of  his  wife." ' 

Such  is  the  account  given  by  Herodotus  of  the 
gifts  bestowed  by  the  king  regarded  as  the  richest  of 
all  the  ancient  monarchs.  In  return  for  his  gifts  he 
got  the  answer  that  "  if  Croesus  shall  make  war  on 
the  Persians  he  will  destroy  a  mighty  empire."  Croe- 
sus was  so  delighted  at  this  that  he  sent  more  gifts, 
"  giving  to  each  of  the  inhabitants  of  Delphi  two 
staters  of  gold."  A  further  question  as  to  how  long 
he  was  destined  to  rule  elicited  the  response,  "  When 
a  mule  shall  become  king  of  the  Medes,  then,  tender- 
footed  Lydian,  flee  over  the  pebbly  Hermus  ;  nor  de- 
lay, nor  blush  to  be  a  coward."  There  is  even  less  of 
apparent  enigma  about  that  statement ;  yet  never- 
theless Croesus  lived  to  see  the  day  when  a  man, 
whom  he  deemed  a  "  mule,"  did  become  ruler  of  the 
Medes,  and  he  likewise  saw  his  own  mighty  empire 
destroyed.  The  case  of  Croesus  is  typical  in  many 
ways  of  the  attitude  of  the  ancients  toward  the  oracle, 

*  Herodotus,  Book  I,  sections  50-51. 


i64    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

— their  belief  in  it  as  inspired,  and  their  frequent 
attempts  to  predispose  it  to  favor  by  gifts  of  great 
magnificence.  Not  everybody  could  give  such  offer- 
ings as  Crcesus,  to  be  sure.  But  the  presents  piled 
up  in  the  buildings  of  the  sacred  precinct  must  have 
been  of  enormous  value,  and  the  contemplation  of 
them  somewhat  overpowering.  By  the  way,  recent 
estimates  have  been  published  showing  that  the 
wealth  of  Croesus,  measured  by  our  modern  stand- 
ards, would  total  only  about  $11,000,000. 

Doubtless  the  awe  felt  for  the  spot  sufficed  in  the 
main  to  protect  the  treasures  from  theft.  When 
Xerxes  came  into  Greece  and  approached  the  shrine, 
the  inhabitants  proposed  that  the  valuables  be  buried 
in  the  earth.  Phoebus,  speaking  through  the  priest- 
ess, forbade  this,  however,  saying  that  "  he  was  able 
to  protect  his  own."  And,  in  fact,  he  proved  to  be  so, 
for  the  approaching  host  were  awed  by  the  sight 
of  the  sacred  arms  of  the  god,  moved  apparently 
by  superhuman  means  from  their  armory  within  the 
temple  to  the  steps  outside.  And  moreover  while 
the  invaders  were  approaching  along  the  vale  below, 
where  the  temple  of  Athena  Pronoia  still  stands,  a 
storm  broke,  and  two  great  crags  were  dashed  from 
the  overhanging  cliffs  above,  killing  some  and  de- 
moralizing the  rest.  A  war  shout  was  heard  from  the 
temple  of  Athena,  and  the  Delians,  taking  heart  at 


DELPHI  165 

these  prodigies,  swept  down  from  the  hills  and  de- 
stroyed many  of  the  fleeing  Medes. 

The  most  successful  attempt  to  prejudice  and  cor- 
rupt the  oracle  seems  to  have  been  that  of  the  Alc- 
maeonidae,  who  have  been  referred  to  as  the  builders 
of  the  great  temple  after  its  destruction  by  fire.  They 
had  been  driven  out  of  Athens  by  the  Pisistratidae, 
and  during  their  exile  they  contracted  with  the  Am- 
phictyons  to  rebuild  the  great  shrine  of  Apollo.  That 
they  imported  Parian  marble  for  the  front  of  the  edi- 
fice when  the  contract  would  have  been  amply  satis- 
fied with  Poros  stone  seems  to  have  been  less  a  dis- 
interested act  than  an  effort  to  win  the  favor  of  the 
god.  The  Athenians  long  maintained  that  the  build- 
ers still  further  persuaded  the  oracle  by  gifts  of 
money  to  urge  upon  the  Spartans  the  liberation  of 
Athens  from  the  tyrants ;  and  in  the  end  the  Pisis- 
tratidae were  driven  out,  in  obedience  to  this  man- 
date, while  the  Alcmaeonidae  came  back  in  triumph, 
as  had  been  their  design  from  the  first. 

It  was  rather  a  relief  at  last  to  turn  from  the  be- 
wildering array  of  ruins  to  the  museum  itself.  It  is  not 
large,  but  it  contains  some  wonderfully  interesting 
things,  and  chief  of  all,  no  doubt,  the  bronze  figure  of 
the  charioteer.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that 
he  surpasses  the  bronze  "  ephebus  "  at  Athens,  whom 
he  instantly  recalls  both  from  the  material  and  from 


i66    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  treatment  of  the  eyes  ;  but  he  is  wonderful,  never- 
theless, as  he  stands  slightly  leaning  backward  as  one 
might  in  the  act  of  driving,  the  remnants  of  a  rein  still 
visible  in  one  hand.  His  self-possession  and  rather 
aristocratic  mien  have  often  been  remarked,  and  a 
careful  examination  will  reveal  what  is  doubtless  the 
most  curious  thing  about  the  whole  statue  —  namely, 
the  little  fringe  of  eye-lashes,  which  those  who  cast  the 
image  allowed  to  protrude  around  the  inlaid  eye-ball. 
They  might  easily  be  overlooked  by  a  casual  observer, 
but  their  effect  is  to  add  a  subtle  something  that  gives 
the  unusual  naturalness  to  the  eyes.  One  other  statue, 
a  marble  replica  of  an  original  bronze  by  Lysippus, 
deserves  a  word  of  comment  also,  because  it  is  held  by 
good  authorities  to  be  a  better  example  of  the  school 
of  Lysippus  than  the  far  better  known  **  Apoxyome- 
nos  "  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  at  Rome.  Each  of  the  fig- 
ures is  the  work  of  a  pupil  of  Lysippus,  but  the  claim 
is  made  that  the  copy  of  a  youth  at  Delphi  was  doubt- 
less made  by  a  pupil  working  under  the  master's  own 
supervision,  while  the  Apoxyomenos  was  carved  after 
Lysippus  had  died.  From  this  it  is  natural  enough  to 
infer  that  the  Delphi  example  is  a  more  faithful  repro- 
duction than  the  Vatican's  familiar  figure.  In  this 
museum  also  is  a  carved  stone  which  is  known  as  the 
"  omphalos,"  because  of  its  having  marked  the  sup- 
posed navel  of  the  earth.    The  legend  is  that  Zeus 


CHARIOTEER  — DELPHI 


DELPHI  167 

once  let  fly  two  eagles  from  opposite  sides  of  the  world, 
bidding  them  fly  toward  one  another  with  equal  wing. 
They  met  at  Delphi,  which  therefore  shares  this  form 
of  celebrity  with  Dodona  in  Epirus. 

Of  course  we  visited  the  Castalian  spring,  which 
still  gushes  forth  from  a  cleft  in  the  rock,  as  it  did  in 
the  days  when  suppliants  came  thither  first  of  all  to 
purify  themselves.  After  a  long  journey  one  is  not 
loath  to  rest  beside  this  ancient  fount  after  washing 
and  drinking  deep  of  its  unfailing  supply,  for  the  water 
is  good  and  the  chance  to  drink  fresh  water  in  Greece 
is  rare  enough  to  be  embraced  wherever  met.  The 
cleft  from  which  the  spring  emerges  is  truly  wonderful. 
It  is  narrow  and  dark  enough  for  a  colossal  chimney, 
running  far  back  into  the  bowels  of  the  mountain 
heights  behind.  An  old  stone  trough  hewn  out  of  the 
side  of  the  cliff  was  once  filled  by  this  spring,  but  the 
flow  has  now  been  diverted  and  it  runs  off  in  a  bab- 
bling stream  over  the  pebbles.  Not  the  least  inspiring 
thing  at  Delphi  is  to  stand  here  and  reflect,  as  one  en- 
joys the  Castalian  water,  how  many  of  the  great  in  by- 
gone ages  stood  on  this  very  spot  and  listened  to  the 
same  murmur  of  this  brook  which  goes  on  forever. 

Hard  by  the  spring,  under  two  great  plane  trees  that 
we  fondly  believed  were  direct  descendants  of  those 
planted  on  the  spot  by  Agamemnon,  we  sat  down  to 
lunch,  a  stone  khan  across  the  way  affording  shelter 


i68    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

and  fire  for  our  coffee.  And  in  the  afternoon  we  ram- 
bled among  the  ruins  below  on  the  grassy  slopes  of 
the  lower  glen,  where  are  to  be  seen  a  ruined  gym- 
nasium, a  temple  of  Athena  Pronoia,  and  a  fascinating 
circular  "tholos,"  all  of  which,  though  sadly  shattered, 
still  present  much  beauty  of  detail.  If  the  site  were 
devoid  of  every  ruined  temple  it  would  still  be  well 
worth  a  visit,  not  merely  from  the  importance  it  once 
enjoyed  as  Apollo's  chief  sanctuary,  but  also  for  the 
grandeur  and  impressiveness  of  its  setting,  so  typical 
of  Greece  at  her  best.  Fortunate  indeed  are  those 
who  may  tarry  here  awhile,  now  that  local  lodging 
has  been  robbed  of  its  ancient  hardships.  To-day, 
as  in  the  days  of  the  priests,  Delphi  is  in  touch  with 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  by  means  of  the  tele- 
graph, the  incongruous  wires  of  which  accompany 
the  climber  all  the  way  from  Itea,  so  that  details  of 
arrival,  departure,  or  stay  may  be  arranged  readily 
enough  from  afar.  Long  sojourn,  however,  was  not 
to  be  our  portion,  and  we  were  forced  to  depart, 
though  with  reluctant  steps,  down  along  the  rough 
side  of  the  mountain,  through  the  vast  and  silent  olive 
groves,  back  into  the  world  of  men,  to  sordid  Itea 
and  our  ship. 


CHAPTER  IX.     MYCEN^  AND  THE 
PLAIN  OF  ARGOS 


WE  journeyed  down  to  Mycenae  from  Athens 
by  train.  The  moment  the  railroad  leaves 
Gorinth  it  branches  southward  into  the  Peloponne- 
sus and  into  a  country  which,  for  legendary  interest, 
has  few  equals  in  the  world.  Old  Corinth  herself,  mo- 
ther of  colonies,  might  claim  a  preeminent  interest 
from  the  purely  historical  point  of  view,  but  she  must 
forever  subordinate  herself  to  the  half-mythical  charm 
that  surrounds  ruined  and  desolate  Mycenae,  the  fa- 
mous capital  of  Atreus  and  his  two  celebrated  sons, 
Menelaus  and  Agamemnon.  As  for  Corinth  herself, 
the  ancient  site  has  lately  been  explored  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  school  at  Athens,  and  these 
excavations,  with  the  steep  climb  to  the  isolated  and 
lofty  Acrocorinth,  furnish  the  attractions  of  the  place 
to-day.  The  train  runs  fairly  close  to  the  mountain, 
so  that  even  from  the  car  window  the  fortifications 
on  its  top  may  be  distinguished ;  but  evidently  they 


170    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

are  Venetian  battlements  rather  than  old  Greek  re- 
mains that  are  thus  visible.  As  a  purely  natural  phe- 
nomenon the  Acrocorinth  is  immensely  impressive, 
resembling  not  a  little  the  Messenian  Acropolis  at 
Ithome.  It  is  a  precipitous  rock,  high  enough  to  de- 
serve the  name  of  a  mountain,  and  sufficiently  iso- 
lated to  be  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  landscape  for 
miles  as  you  approach  Corinth  from  the  sea  or  from 
Athens  by  train.  Circumstances  have  never  permitted 
us  to  ascend  it,  but  the  view  from  the  summit  over 
the  tumbling  surface  of  the  mountainous  Peloponne- 
sus is  said  to  be  indescribably  fine,  giving  the  same 
effect  as  that  produced  by  a  relief  map,  while  the 
prospect  northward  across  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  is  of 
course  no  less  magnificent. 

Fate  ordained  that  we  should  stick  to  the  line  of 
the  railway  and  proceed  directly  to  the  site  of  Myce- 
nae, in  which  interest  had  been  whetted  by  the  re- 
markable display  of  Mycenaean  relics  in  the  museum 
at  Athens,  as  well  as  by  the  consciousness  that  we 
were  about  to  visit  the  home  of  the  conqueror  of  Troy 
and  of  his  murderous  queen.  The  train  did  some 
steep  climbing  as  it  rounded  the  shoulder  of  the 
Acrocorinth,  and  for  two  hours  or  so  it  was  a  steady 
up-grade,  winding  around  long  valleys  in  spacious 
curves,  the  old  road  from  Sparta  generally  visible 
below.  At  every  station  the  mail  car  threw  off  bun- 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  171 

dies  of  newspapers,  which  the  crowds  gathered  on 
the  platform  instantly  snatched  and  purchased  with 
avidity.  The  love  of  news  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
Athenians,  but  has  spread  to  their  countrymen ;  and 
every  morning  the  same  scene  is  enacted  at  every 
railroad  station  in  Hellas  on  the  arrival  of  the  Athens 
train.  At  every  stop  the  air  was  vocal  with  demands 
for  this  or  that  morning  daily,  and  each,  having  se- 
cured the  journal  of  his  choice,  retired  precipitately 
to  the  shade  of  a  near-by  tree,  while  those  who  could 
not  read  gathered  near  and  heard  the  news  of  the 
world  retailed  by  the  more  learned,  at  second-hand. 
The  peasant  costumes  were  most  interesting,  for  we 
were  now  in  the  country  of  the  shepherds,  far  from 
the  madding  crowd  and  dressed  for  work.  The  dress 
of  each  was  substantially  the  same,  —  a  heavy  capote 
of  wool,  if  it  was  at  all  chilly,  the  tight  drawers  gar- 
tered below  the  knee,  the  heavy  leather  wallet  on  the 
front  of  the  belt,  the  curious  tufted  shoes  whose  pom- 
pons at  the  toe,  if  large  denoted  newly  bought  gear, 
or  if  sheared  small  meant  that  the  footwear  was  old. 
For  the  custom  is  to  cut  down  these  odd  bits  of 
adornment  as  they  become  frayed,  a  process  that  is 
repeated  until  the  tuft  is  entirely  removed,  when  it  is 
time  to  buy  new  shoes. 

The  landscape  was  most  striking  now.  The  plains 
were  small  and  separated  from  one  another  by  walls  of 


172     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

rugged  hills,  whose  barriers  were  not  to  be  despised 
in  days  when  communication  was  primitive  and  slow, 
and  which  bore  an  important  part  in  keeping  the  sev- 
eral ancient  states  so  long  apart,  instead  of  allowing 
them  permanently  to  unite.  The  neighboring  peaks 
began  to  be  increasingly  redolent  of  mythology, 
chiefly  relating  to  various  heroic  exploits  of  Herakles. 
Indeed  the  train  stopped  at  Nemea  itself,  and  the  site 
of  the  struggle  with  the  Nemean  lion  w^as  indicated 
to  us  from  afar,  while  a  distant  summit  was  said  to  be 
near  the  lake  where  were  slain  the  Stymphalian  birds. 
Shortly  beyond  the  grade  began  to  drop  sharply,  un- 
til, rushing  through  a  pass  of  incredible  narrowness, 
—  the  site  of  a  bloody  modern  battle  between  the 
Greek  patriots  and  the  Turks,  —  the  train  dashed  out 
into  the  broad  plain  of  Argos,  once  famous  as  the 
breeder  of  horses.  The  narrow  and  rather  sterile  val- 
leys hemmed  in  by  bare  hills  of  gray  rock  gave  place 
to  this  immense  level  tract  of  sandy  soil  leading  down 
to  the  sea,  w^hich  gleamed  in  the  distance  under  the 
noonday  sun.  On  either  side  of  the  broad  expanse  of 
plain  towered  the  mountain  wall,  always  gray  and 
bare  of  trees,  though  in  the  old  days  it  was  doubtless 
well  wooded.  With  the  departure  of  trees  came  the 
drouth,  and  to-day  the  rivers  of  the  Argolid  are  mere 
sandy  channels,  devoid  of  water  save  in  the  season 
of  the  melting  mountain  snows. 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  173 

The  train  halted  at  Phychtia,  the  station  for  My- 
cenae, and  there  we  found  waiting  a  respectable  car- 
riage that  had  seen  better  days  in  some  city,  but 
which  was  now  relegated  to  the  task  of  conveying 
the  curious  to  various  points  in  the  Argolic  plain. 
It  was  there  in  response  to  the  inevitable  telegraph, 
which  we  had  the  forethought  to  employ.  Otherwise 
we  should  have  had  to  go  over  to  the  site  of  My- 
cenae on  foot,  a  task  which  the  heat  of  the  day  rather 
than  the  distance  would  have  made  arduous.  Mycenae 
to-day  is  absolutely  deserted  and  desolate,  lying  per- 
haps two  miles  eastward  from  the  railway,  on  the 
spurs  of  two  imposing  mountain  peaks.  Toward  this 
point  the  road  rises  steadily,  and  before  long  we  had 
passed  through  a  starveling  village  of  peasant  huts 
and  came  suddenly  upon  a  two-story  structure  bear- 
ing the  portentous  sign,  "  Grand  Hotel  of  Helen  and 
Menelaus  ! "  To  outward  view  it  was  in  keeping  with 
the  rest  of  the  hamlet,  which  was  chiefly  remarkable 
for  its  children  and  dogs.  It  proved,  on  closer  in- 
spection, to  be  a  queer  little  inn,  boasting  a  few  sleep- 
ing rooms  in  its  upper  story,  to  be  reached  only  by 
an  outside  stairway.  On  the  ground  floor  —  which 
was  a  ground  floor  in  the  most  literal  sense  of  that 
overworked  expression  —  was  a  broad  room,  used 
partly  as  a  dining-room  and  partly  as  a  store  and 
office.   The  actual  eating-place  was  separated  from 


174     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  remainder  of  the  apartment  by  a  grill-work  of 
laths,  or  pickets,  with  a  wicket  gate,  through  which 
not  only  the  guests  and  the  proprietor,  but  sundry 
dogs,  chickens,  and  cats  passed  from  the  main  hall 
to  the  table.  This,  being  the  only  available  hotel  in 
the  region,  and  bearing  so  resounding  and  sonorous 
a  title,  proved  irresistible.  Lunch,  consisting  of  very 
excellent  broiled  chickens,  and  sundry  modest  con- 
comitants, was  promptly  served  by  a  tall  slip  of  a 
girl,  the  daughter  of  the  house,  and  probably  named 
Helen,  too.  During  the  meal  various  hens,  perhaps 
the  ancestors  of  our  pieces  de  resistance,  clucked  con- 
tentedly in  and  out,  and  a  mournful  hound  sneaked 
repeatedly  through  the  gate,  only  to  be  as  repeatedly 
thrust  into  the  outer  darkness  of  the  office  by  the 
cook  and  waitress.  In  former  times,  before  the  "Grand 
Hotel  of  Helen  and  Menelaus"  sprang  into  being, 
it  was  necessary  to  carry  one's  food  and  eat  it  under 
the  shadow  of  the  famous  Lion  Gate  on  the  site  of 
the  old  town  itself  —  a  place  replete  with  thrills. 
Nevertheless  it  seems  well  that  the  vicinity  now  has 
a  place  of  public  entertainment,  and  doubly  well  that 
it  has  been  so  sonorously  named. 

It  may  not  have  been  more  than  half  a  mile  farther 
to  the  ruins,  but  it  was  up  hill  and  very  warm  work 
reaching  them.  On  either  side  of  the  high  road,  where 
presumably  once  lay  the  real  every-day  city  of  My- 


MYCENyE  and  the  plain  of  ARGOS  175 

cenae,  there  was  little  in  the  way  of  remains  to  be  seen, 
save  for  the  remarkable  avenue  leading  to  the  sub- 
terranean tomb,  or  treasury,  of  which  it  will  be  best 
to  speak  somewhat  later.  The  slopes  were  covered 
with  grass,  and  here  and  there  a  trace  of  very  old 
"  Cyclopean  "  masonry  was  all  that  remained  to  bear 
witness  to  the  previous  existence  of  a  city  wall,  or 
possibly  an  ancient  highway  with  a  primitive  arch- 
bridge  spanning  a  gully.  Back  over  the  plain  the  view 
was  expansive.  The  several  strongholds  of  Agamem- 
non's kingdom  were  all  in  sight,  —  Mycense,  Nauplia, 
Argos,  and  Tiryns, — at  the  corners  of  the  great  plain, 
which  one  might  ride  all  around  in  a  day ;  so  that 
from  his  chief  stronghold  on  the  height  at  Mycense 
Agamemnon  might  well  claim  to  be  monarch  of  all  he 
surveyed.  Behind  the  valley,  the  twin  peaks  at  whose 
base  the  stronghold  lay  rose  abruptly,  bearing  no  trace 
of  the  forests  of  oak  that  once  covered  them  ;  and  on 
a  rocky  foothill  stood  the  acropolis  of  the  city,  admir- 
ably fitted  by  nature  for  defense.  It  was  on  this  high 
ground  that  the  ruins  were  found,  and  the  visitor  is 
informed  that  this  was  the  citadel  rather  than  the 
main  town  —  the  place  to  which  the  beleaguered  in- 
habitants might  flock  for  safety  in  time  of  war,  and 
in  which  Atreus  and  his  line  had  their  palace.  It  was 
here  that  Dr.  Schliemann  conducted  his  remarkable 
researches,  of  which  we  shall  have  much  to  say.  It  is 


176    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

a  remarkable  fact  that  the  events  of  the  past  twenty 
years  or  so  have  given  a  most  astonishing  insight  into 
the  dimness  of  the  so-called  "heroic"  age  —  the  age 
that  long  after  was  sung  by  Homer  —  so  that  it  is 
actually  possible  now  to  say  that  we  know  more  of 
the  daily  life  and  conditions  of  the  time  of  Troy's 
besiegers  than  we  do  of  the  time  of  Homer  himself, 
and  more  about  the  heroes  than  about  those  who  sang 
their  exploits.  Knowledge  of  the  more  remote  periods 
seems  to  vary  directly  with  the  distance.  The  dark 
ages,  as  has  been  sagely  remarked,  were  too  dark 
altogether  to  admit  men  to  read  the  story  told  by  the 
ancient  monuments  such  as  survived  at  Mycenae,  and 
it  is  only  lately  that  light  has  increased  sufficiently 
to  enable  them  to  be  understood  with  such  clear- 
ness that  the  dead  past  has  suddenly  seemed  to  live 
again.  From  the  remains  at  Mycense  the  savants 
have  unearthed  the  houses,  walls,  palaces,  reservoirs, 
ornaments,  weapons,  and  daily  utensils  of  the  pre- 
Homeric  age.  Bones  and  other  relics  cast  aside  in 
rubbish  heaps  give  an  idea  of  the  daily  food  of  the 
people.  The  tombs  have  revealed  how  they  were 
buried  at  death,  and  have  yielded  a  wealth  of  gold 
ornaments  showing  a  marvelous  skill  in  working 
metals. 

This  upper  city  of  Mycense  was  built  on  a  rock,  which 
we  soon  discovered  to  be  separated  from  the  rest  of 


MYCENvE  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  177 

the  mountain  by  ravines,  leaving  the  sides  very  steep 
and  smooth,  so  that  on  nearly  every  hand  the  place 
was  inaccessible.  The  gorges  toward  the  mountains 
were  natural  moats,  and  wide  enough  to  prevent 
assault  or  even  the  effective  hurling  of  missiles  from 
above  into  the  citadel.  The  stronghold,  however,  was 
vastly  strengthened  by  artificial  construction  and 
proved  to  be  walled  entirely  about,  the  fortress  being 
especially  strong  on  the  more  exposed  portions,  and 
most  especially  at  the  main  gate,  where  the  enormous 
blocks  of  stone  and  the  tremendous  thickness  of  the 
wall  were  most  in  evidence.  The  road  winds  up  the  last 
steep  ascent  until  it  becomes  a  mere  narrow  driveway, 
scarcely  wide  enough  for  more  than  a  single  chariot, 
and  right  ahead  appears  suddenly  the  famed  Lion 
Gate,  flanked  on  one  hand  by  a  formidable  wall  facing 
the  side  of  the  native  rock,  and  on  the  other  by  a  pro- 
jecting bastion  of  almost  incredible  thickness.  The 
stones  are  of  remarkable  size,  hewn  to  a  sort  of  rough 
regularity  by  the  Cyclopean  builders,  and  the  wonder 
is  that,  in  so  rude  and  primitive  an  age,  men  were  able 
to  handle  such  great  blocks  with  such  skill.  No  won- 
der the  tale  gained  currency  that  it  was  the  work  of 
the  Cyclopes,  imported  from  abroad — and  indeed 
the  tale  is  not  without  its  abiding  plausibility,  since 
there  are  evidences  enough  in  scattered  Phoenician 
sites  elsewhere  to  warrant  the  assumption  that  the 


178    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

builders  of  these  numerous  fortresses  in  Argolis  did 
come  from  over  seas. 

Of  all  the  ruins  at  Mycense  the  "  gate  of  the  lions  " 
is  unquestionably  the  most  impressive.  It  spans  the 
end  of  the  long  and  narrow  vestibule  between  the  walls 
of  rock,  its  jambs  made  of  huge  upright  stones  that 
even  to-day  show  the  slots  cut  for  hinges  and  the  deep 
holes  into  which  were  shot  the  ancient  bolts.  Over  the 
top  is  another  massive  single  stone,  forming  the  lintel. 
It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Cyclopean  doorways  at  My- 
cense that  the  weight  on  the  centre  of  the  lintel  is 
almost  invariably  lightened  by  leaving  a  triangular 
aperture  in  the  stonev/ork  above,  and  in  the  main  gate 
the  immense  blocks  of  the  wall  were  so  disposed  as  to 
leave  such  an  opening.  Even  the  massive  lintel  of  this 
broad  gate  would  probably  have  failed  to  support  the 
pressure  of  the  walls  had  not  some  such  expedient 
been  devised.  As  it  is,  the  light  stone  slab  that  was 
used  to  fill  the  triangular  opening  is  still  in  place,  and 
it  is  what  gives  the  name  to  the  gateway,  from  the 
rudely  sculptured  lions  that  grace  it.  These  two  lions, 
minus  their  heads,  are  sitting  facing  each  other  — 
"  heraldically  opposed,"  as  the  phrase  is  —  each  with 
his  fore  feet  resting  on  the  base  of  an  altar  bearing  a 
sculptured  column,  which  marks  the  centre  of  the  slab. 
The  column  is  represented  as  larger  at  the  top  than 
at  the  base,  a  peculiarity  of  the  stone  columns  of  the 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  179 

Mycensean  age,  and  recalling  the  fact  that  the  first 
stone  pillars  were  faithful  copies  of  the  sharpened 
stakes  that  had  been  used  as  supports  in  a  still  earlier 
day.  The  missing  heads  of  the  lions  were  doubtless 
of  metal,  —  bronze,  perhaps,  —  and  were  placed  so  as 
to  seem  to  be  gazing  down  the  road.  They  are  gone, 
nobody  knows  whither.  It  used  to  be  stated  that  this 
quaint  bas-relief  was  the  "oldest  sculpture  in  Europe," 
but  this  is  another  of  the  comfortable  delusions  that 
modern  science  has  destroyed.  Nobody,  however,  can 
deny  that  the  Gate  of  the  Lions  is  vastly  impressive,  or 
that  it  is  so  old  that  we  may,  without  serious  error, 
feel  that  we  are  looking  on  something  that  Agamem- 
non himself  perhaps  saw  over  his  shoulder  as  he  set 
out  for  Troy.  Just  inside  the  gate  we  found  a  narrow 
opening  in  the  stones,  leading  to  a  sort  of  subterranean 
chamber,  presumably  for  the  sentry.  The  impression 
produced  by  the  gate  and  its  massive  flanking  walls 
is  that  of  absolute  impregnability,  and  it  was  easy 
enough  to  fancy  the  Argive  javelin-men  thronging  the 
bastion  above  and  pouring  death  and  destruction 
down  upon  the  exposed  right  hands  of  the  invaders 
jammed  tight  in  the  constricted  vestibule  below. 

Inside  the  gate,  the  old  market-place  opens  out,  and 
it  was  here  that  were  discovered  the  tombs  from  which 
came  the  numerous  relics  seen  at  Athens.  The  market 
place  is  still  encircled  by  a  curious  elliptical  structure, 


i8o    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

which  is  in  effect  a  double  ring  of  flat  stones,  with  slabs 
laid  flat  across  the  top,  forming  what  looks  like  a  sort 
of  oval  bench  all  around  the  inclosure.  We  were  asked 
to  believe  that  these  actually  were  seats  to  be  occupied 
by  the  old  men  and  councilors  of  the  city ;  but  if  that 
is  the  truth,  there  were  indeed  giants  in  the  land  in 
those  times.  Other  authorities  conjecture  that  it  was 
a  retaining  wall  for  a  sort  of  mound  heaped  up  over 
the  graves  within  —  an  hypothesis  which  it  seems 
almost  as  hard  to  adopt.  Whatever  the  purpose  of 
this  remarkable  circle  of  stone  slabs,  it  is  hardly  to 
be  doubted  that  it  did  once  inclose  an  "agora,"  and 
it  was  within  this  space  that  Schliemann  sunk  his 
shafts  and  brought  up  so  much  that  was  wonderful 
from  the  tombs  below.  Tombs  in  so  central  a  spot, 
and  filled  with  such  a  plethora  of  gold,  certainly  might 
well  be  deemed  to  have  been  the  last  resting-place  of 
royalty,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  believe  that  they  were 
sovereigns  of  the  Agamemnonian  line,  if  the  "  prince 
of  men"  himself  be  not  one  of  them.  It  is  the  fashion  to 
aver  that  Schliemann  was  too  ready  to  jump  at  con- 
clusions prompted  by  his  own  fond  hopes  and  pre- 
conceived ideas,  and  to  make  little  of  his  claim  that 
he  had  unearthed  the  grave  of  the  famous  warrior 
who  overcame  Priam's  city  ;  and  perhaps  this  is 
justified.  But  one  cannot  forget  that  the  old  legend 
insisted  that  Atreus,  Agamemnon,  Cassandra,  Electra, 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  i8i 

Eurymedon,  and  several  others  were  buried  in  the 
market  place  of  Mycenae,  —  which  was  doubtless  what 
prompted  the  excavation  at  this  point ;  excavations 
which  moreover  proved  to  be  so  prolific  of  royal  re- 
ward. 

On  the  heights  above,  where  it  was  far  too  steep  for 
chariots  to  follow,  there  is  a  pathway  direct  to  the 
royal  palace  itself,  which  it  will  doubtless  do  no  harm 
to  call  Agamemnon's.  Of  course  it  is  practically  flat 
to-day,  with  little  more  than  traces  of  the  foundation, 
save  for  a  bit  of  pavement  here  and  there,  or  a  frag- 
ment of  wall  on  which  possibly  one  may  detect  a 
faint  surviving  touch  of  fresco.  All  around  the  cit- 
adel below  are  traces  of  other  habitations,  so  con- 
gested as  to  preclude  any  application  of  Homer's  epi- 
thet, "Mycenae  of  the  broad  streets,"  to  this  particular 
section  of  the  city.  All  around  the  summit  ran  the 
wall,  even  at  points  where  it  would  seem  no  wall  was 
necessary.  As  we  explored  the  site  the  guide  kept 
gathering  handfuls  of  herbage  that  grew  all  about, 
and  speedily  led  us  to  a  curious  Cyclopean  "arch," 
made  by  allowing  two  sloping  stones  to  fall  toward 
each  other  at  the  top  of  an  approaching  row  of  wall- 
blocks,  which  it  developed  was  the  entrance  to  a 
subterranean  gallery  that  led  down  to  the  reservoir 
of  the  fort.  It  was  a  dark  and  tortuous  place,  and  its 
descent  to  the  bowels  of  the  hill  was  quite  abrupt,  so 


i82     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

that  we  did  not  venture  very  far,  but  allowed  the 
guide  to  creep  gingerly  down  until  he  was  far  below ; 
whereupon  he  set  fire  to  the  grasses  he  had  been 
accumulating  and  lighted  up  this  interior  gallery  for 
us.  The  walls  of  this  passageway  had  been  polished 
smooth  for  centuries  by  passing  goats  which  had 
rubbed  against  the  stone,  and  it  gleamed  and  glit- 
tered in  the  firelight,  revealing  a  long  tunnel  leading 
downward  and  out  of  sight  to  a  cavern  far  below, 
where  was  once  stored  the  water  supply  conveyed 
thither  from  a  spring  north  of  the  citadel.  Stones 
cast  down  the  tunnel  reverberated  for  a  long  distance 
along  its  slippery  floor,  and  at  last  apparently  came 
against  a  final  obstacle  with  a  crash.  Then  came  the 
upward  rush  of  smoke  from  the  impromptu  torch, 
and  we  were  forced  hastily  to  scramble  out  into  the 
open  air.  We  returned  later,  however,  for  a  passing 
shower  swept  down  from  the  mountains  and  threat- 
ened a  drenching,  which  rendered  the  shelter  of  the 
ancient  aqueduct  welcome  indeed.  It  was  soon  over, 
however,  and  afforded  us  a  chance  to  sit  on  the  top- 
most rock  of  the  acropolis,  looking  down  over  what 
was  once  the  most  important  of  the  Greek  kingdoms, 
from  the  mountains  on  the  north  and  west  dov/n  to 
the  sea  —  a  pleasing  sight,  which  was  cut  short  only 
by  the  reflection  that  we  had  still  to  visit  the  so-called 
"treasury  of  Atreus"  beside  the  road  below. 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  183 

This  is  one  more  of  the  odd  structures  of  the  place 
over  which  controversy  has  raged  long  and  fiercely, 
the  problem  being  whether  or  not  it  was  a  tomb.  There 
are  a  number  of  these  underground  chambers  near 
by,  but  the  most  celebrated  one  just  mentioned  is  the 
common  type  and  is  completely  excavated  so  that  it 
is  easily  to  be  explored.  The  approach  is  by  a  long 
cut  in  the  hillside,  walled  on  both  sides  with  well-hewn 
stone,  the  avenue  terminating  only  when  a  sufficient 
depth  had  been  reached  to  excavate  a  lofty  subter- 
ranean chamber.  A  tall  and  narrow  door  stands  at 
the  end  of  this  curious  lane,  placed  against  the  hill,  its 
lintel  made  of  a  noticeably  massive  flat  stone,  with 
the  inevitable  triangular  opening  over  it ;  but  in  this 
case  the  block  which  presumably  once  closed  it  is 
gone,  and  nobody  knows  whether  it,  like  its  mate 
at  the  main  gateway,  bore  sculptured  lions  or  not. 
Within,  the  tomb  is  shaped  like  an  old-fashioned  straw 
beehive,  lined  throughout  with  stone,  which  bears 
marks  indicating  that  it  in  turn  was  once  faced 
with  bronze  plates.  It  is  a  huge  place,  in  which  the 
voice  echoes  strangely,  and  it  is  lighted  only  from  the 
door  and  its  triangular  opening  above.  Just  off  the 
northern  side  is  a  smaller  chamber,  where  light  is  only 
to  be  had  by  lighting  some  more  of  the  dry  grasses 
gathered  without.  Those  who  adhere  to  the  idea  that 
this  was  a  tomb  maintain  that  the  real  sepulchre  was 


i84     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

in  the  smaller  adjoining  chamber.  Respectable  au- 
thority exists,  however,  for  saying  that  these  cham- 
bers were  not  tombs  at  all,  but  treasuries,  and  a  vast 
amount  of  controversial  literature  exists  on  the  subject, 
over  which  one  may  pore  at  his  leisure  if  he  desires. 
If  it  was  a  tomb,  it  is  obvious  from  the  other  burial- 
place  discovered  on  the  acropolis  above  that  there 
must  have  been  at  least  two  different  styles  of  burial, 
—  and  the  tombs  above  appear  to  have  contained 
people  of  consequence,  such  as  might  be  expected  to 
have  as  honorable  and  imposing  sepulchres  as  there 
were.  No  bones  were  found  in  the  "  treasury  of 
Atreus,"  and  plenty  of  bones  were  found  elsewhere,  a 
fact  which  might  seem  significant  and  indeed  conclu- 
sive if  it  were  not  known  that  bones  had  been  found 
in  beehive  tombs  like  this  elsewhere  in  Greece,  notably 
near  Menidi,  where  six  skeletons  were  discovered  in 
a  similar  structure.  Of  course  it  might  be  true  that 
the  bodies  found  on  the  heights  at  Mycenae  and  taken 
to  Athens  belonged  to  an  entirely  different  epoch  from 
those  that  were  buried  in  the  beehive  tombs,  and  that 
the  beehive  tombs  might  easily  have  been  looted  long 
before  the  existence  of  any  such  booty  as  the  market- 
place graves  yielded  had  even  been  suspected.  The 
layman  is  therefore  left  to  suit  himself,  whether  he  will 
call  this  underground  chamber  a  tomb  or  a  treasury, 
and  devote  his  time  to  admiring  the  ingenuity  with 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  185 

which  the  stone  lining  of  the  place  was  built,  each  tier 
of  stone  slightly  projecting  above  its  lower  fellow  so 
as  at  last  to  converge  at  the  top  in  a  point.  The  per- 
fection of  this  subterranean  treasure-house  seems  no 
less  remarkable  than  the  ease  with  which  the  ancient 
builders  managed  large  masses  of  rock. 

As  for  the  history  of  Mycenae,  its  greatest  celebrity 
is  unquestionably  that  which  it  achieved  in  the  time 
of  the  Atreidai,  when  it  was  the  home  of  the  kings  of 
Argos.  It  issupposable  that  in  the  palace  on  the  height 
Clytaemnestra  spent  the  ten  years  of  her  lord's  absence 
at  Troy,  and  that  therein  she  murdered  him  on  his  re- 
turn. The  poets  have  woven  a  great  web  of  song  and 
story  about  the  place,  largely  imaginative  and  legend- 
ary, to  be  sure.  But  the  revelations  of  the  later  excava- 
tions have  revealed  that  the  poets  came  exceedingly 
close  to  fact  in  their  descriptions  of  material  things. 
The  benches  before  the  doors,  the  weapons  and  shields 
of  heroes,  the  cups, —  such  as  Nestor  used,  for  example, 
—  all  these  find  their  counterparts  in  the  recently  dis- 
covered actualities  and  give  the  more  color  to  the 
events  that  the  ancient  writers  describe.  That  Myce- 
nae was  practically  abandoned  soon  after  her  great 
eminence  doubtless  accounts  for  the  wealth  of  relics 
that  the  excavators  found,  and  her  low  estate  during 
the  centuries  of  neglect  curiously  but  not  unnaturally 
insured  her  return  to  celebrity,  with  a  vast  volume 


i86     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  most  interesting  testimony  to  her  former  greatness 
quite  unimpaired. 

From  Mycenae  down  to  the  Argive  Heraeum,  the 
ancient  temple  of  Hera  which  was  once  the  chief 
shrine  of  this  region,  is  something  like  two  miles ; 
but  as  it  was  over  a  rough  ground,  and  as  time  failed 
us,  it  was  found  necessary  to  eliminate  this,  which  to  a 
strenuous  archaeologist  might  doubtless  prove  highly 
interesting  as  an  excursion,  and  more  especially  so 
to  Americans,  since  it  was  a  site  explored  by  the 
American  school.  It  lies  off  on  the  hills  that  border 
the  plain  of  Argos  on  the  east,  on  the  direct  line 
between  Mycenae  and  Nauplia.  Our  own  road  led 
us  back  to  Phychtia  again  and  down  the  centre  of 
the  plain  over  a  very  good  carriage  road,  passing 
through  broad  fields  of  waving  grain,  in  the  midst 
of  which,  breast  deep,  stood  occasional  horses  con- 
tentedly munching  without  restraint.  Almost  the  only 
buildings  were  isolated  stone  windmills,  some  still 
in  use  and  others  dismantled.  At  last  the  road 
plunged  down  a  bank  and  into  the  sandy  bed  of 
what  was  doubtless  at  some  time  of  year  a  river,  — 
but  at  this  season,  and  probably  most  of  the  year  as 
well,  a  mere  broad  fiat  expanse  of  sand  as  destitute  of 
water  as  the  most  arid  part  of  Sahara.  The  railroad, 
which  had  borne  us  friendly  company  for  a  few  miles, 
was  provided  with  an   iron   bridge,  spanning  this 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  187 

broad  desert  with  as  much  gravity  as  if  it  were  a 
raging  torrent,  which  doubtless  it  sometimes  is.  Just 
beyond  we  rattled  into  Argos. 

Argos  is  a  rather  large  place,  but  decidedly  unat- 
tractive save  for  its  many  little  gardens.  Nearly  every 
house  had  them,  and  from  our  high  seats  in  the  re- 
spectable but  superannuated  depot  carriage  we  were 
able  to  look  into  the  depths  of  many  such,  to  marvel 
at  their  riot  of  roses  and  greenery.  As  for  the  houses, 
they  were  little  and  not  over-clean.  The  populace, 
however,  was  exceeding  friendly,  sitting  en  masse 
along  the  highway,  the  young  women  blithely  salut- 
ing and  the  children  bombarding  us  with  nosegays 
in  the  hope  of  lepta.  Over  Argos  towers  a  steep  hill, 
known  as  a  "larisa"  or  acropoHs,  from  the  top  of 
which  we  could  imagine  a  wonderful  view  over  the 
whole  kingdom  of  the  Argives  and  over  the  moun- 
tains as  well,  not  to  mention  the  Gulf  of  Nauplia ;  but 
as  time  was  speeding  on  toward  the  dusk  and  we 
were  still  far  from  Nauplia,  we  had  to  be  content 
with  the  imagination  alone,  and  with  the  news  that 
a  little  monastery  about  halfway  up  the  hillside  had 
been  set  on  fire  on  the  Easter  Sunday  previous  by 
too  enthusiastic  celebrants,  who  had  been  over-free 
with  the  inevitable  rockets  and  Roman  candles.  Also 
we  had  to  give  short  shrift  to  the  vast  theatre,  hewn 
out  of  the  solid  rock  at  the  foot  of  the  larisa,  and  said 


188     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

to  be  one  of  the  largest  in  Greece.  It  was  sadly  grass- 
grown,  however,  and  infinitely  less  attractive  than 
the  smallest  at  Athens,  not  to  mention  the  splendid 
playhouse  at  Epidaurus,  which  we  promised  our- 
selves for  the  morrow.  So  we  were  not  reluctant  to 
swing  away  from  old  Argos,  with  her  shouting  vil- 
lagers and  high-walled  gardens,  and  to  skirt  the 
harbor,  now  close  at  hand  along  the  dusty  Nauplia 
road.  Across  the  dancing  waters  lay  Nauplia  herself, 
a  white  patch  at  the  foot  of  a  prodigious  cliff  far 
around  the  bay.  By  the  roadside  the  country  seaward 
was  marshy,  while  inland  rolled  the  great  plain  back 
to  the  gray  hills  which  showed  the  northern  bounds 
of  the  old  kingdom,  and  the  lofty  rock  of  Mycenae 
from  which  the  sons  of  Atreus  had  looked  down  over 
their  broad  acres. 

It  was  not  long  before  we  were  aware  that  "  well- 
walled"  Tiryns  was  at  hand  and  that  we  were  not  to 
close  a  day  already  well  marked  by  memories  of  Cy- 
clopean masonry  without  adding  thereto  the  most  stu- 
pendous of  all,  the  memory  of  the  great  stones  piled 
up  in  prehistoric  ages  at  this  ancient  palace  whose 
size  impressed  even  that  hardened  sight-seer  Pausa- 
nias.  Tiryns  proved  to  be  a  highly  interesting  place ; 
in  general  appearance  much  like  Mycenae,  but  in  de- 
tail sufficiently  different  to  keep  us  exclaiming.  It  lies 
on  what  is  little  more  than  an  isolated  hillock  beside 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  189 

the  highroad,  and  there  is  nothing  imposing  about  its 
height  or  length.  It  is  a  long,  low  rock,  devoid  of  any 
building  save  for  the  solid  retaining  walls  that  may  go 
back  to  the  days  of  Herakles  himself. 

Whoever  built  the  fortress  at  Tiryns  had  seen  fit  to 
make  the  front  door  face  the  plain  rather  than  the 
sea ;  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  leave  the  road  and  go 
around  to  the  north  side  of  the  rock,  where  a  gradual 
incline  afforded  an  easy  approach  to  a  sort  of  ramp, 
or  terrace,  defended  by  walls  of  the  most  astonish- 
ing Cyclopean  construction.  It  has  been  stated  that 
these  great  and  rudely  squared  blocks  of  native  rock, 
taken  from  the  quarries  in  the  hills  northward,  were 
once  bonded  together  with  a  rude  clay  rnortar,  which 
has  since  entirely  disappeared.  How  such  enormous 
blocks  were  quarried  in  those  primitive  days,  or  how 
they  were  handled,  is  a  good  deal  of  a  mystery.  But 
it  is  claimed  that  swelled  wedges  of  wet  wood  were 
used  to  separate  the  stones  from  their  native  bed. 

As  a  ruin,  Tiryns  is  rather  difficult  to  reconstruct  in 
the  imagination  from  the  visible  remains.  The  inclined 
ramp  and  the  gateway,  remains  of  which  are  still 
standing,  are  interesting,  but  chiefly  from  the  remark- 
able size  of  the  stones  employed  in  their  construction. 
Within,  the  old  palace  is  in  a  state  of  complete  and 
comprehensive  ruin.  The  lines  of  the  former  palace 
walls  may,  however,  be  seen  on  the  rocky  floor,  with 


I90    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

here  and  there  a  trace  of  an  ancient  column  which  has 
left  its  mark  on  the  foundation  rock.  The  outer  and 
inner  courts,  megaron,  men's  and  women's  apart- 
ments, and  even  the  remnants  of  a  "  bathroom  "  are 
to  be  made  out,  the  last-named  bearing  testimony  to 
the  fact  that  even  in  the  remote  Mycenaean  age  the  dis- 
position of  waste  water  was  carefully  looked  to  —  per- 
haps more  carefully  than  was  the  case  with  the  later 
Greeks.  The  Tirynthian  feature  which  eclipses  every- 
thing else  for  interest,  however,  is  the  arrangement  of 
covered  galleries  of  stone  on  two  sides  of  the  palace, 
from  which  at  intervals  radiate  side  chambers  sup- 
posed to  have  been  used  for  storage.  To-day  they  re- 
call rather  more  the  casements  of  our  own  old-fash- 
ioned forts.  In  these  galleries  the  rude  foreshadowings 
of  the  arch  principle  are  even  more  clearly  to  be  seen 
than  in  the  underground  conduit  at  Mycense  which 
leads  to  the  sunken  reservoir.  The  sides  of  the  corri- 
dor are  vertical  for  only  a  short  distance,  and  speed- 
ily begin  to  slope  inward,  meeting  in  an  acute  angle 
overhead.  The  side  chambers  are  of  a  similar  con- 
struction. Nowhere  does  it  appear  that  the  "  Cy- 
clopes," if  we  may  call  them  such,  recognized  the 
principle  of  the  keystone,  although  they  seem  to  have 
come  very  close  to  it  by  accident  here  and  there,  and 
notably  so  in  the  case  of  the  little  postern  gate  which 
is  to  be  seen  on  the  side  of  the  citadel  toward  the 


MYCEN^  AND  THE  PLAIN  OF  ARGOS  191 

modern  highroad.  As  for  the  galleries,  at  the  present 
day  they  are  polished  to  a  glassy  smoothness  within 
by  the  rubbing  of  sheltering  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats. 
And  they  are  interesting,  not  only  because  of  the 
massive  stones  used  in  building  them,  but  because 
the  similarity  of  these  corridors  and  storage  chambers 
to  the  arrangements  found  near  old  Carthage  and 
other  Phoenician  sites  may  well  argue  a  common  pa- 
ternity of  architecture,  and  thus  give  color  to  the  tale 
that  the  ancient  kings  of  Argos  secured  artisans  of 
marvelous  skill  and  strength  from  abroad.  The  im- 
mense size  of  the  roughly  hewn  rocks  easily  enough 
begot  the  tradition  that  these  alien  builders  were  men 
of  gigantic  stature,  called  "  Cyclopes  "  from  the  name 
of  their  king,  Cyclops,  and  supposed  to  be  a  race  of 
Thracian  giants ;  quite  distinct,  of  course,  from  the 
other  mythological  Cyclopes  who  served  Hephaistos, 
or  the  Sicilian  ones  who  made  life  a  burden  for  Odys- 
seus on  his  wanderings.  It  seems  to  be  a  plausible 
opinion  now  widely  held  that  the  foreign  masons  who 
erected  the  Cyclopean  walls  in  the  Argolid  were  not 
from  Thrace,  but  from  the  southern  shores  of  the 
^gean  —  perhaps  from  Lycia.  And  it  is  interesting 
to  know  that  there  are  examples  of  the  same  sort  of 
stone  work,  bearing  a  similar  name,  to  be  found  as 
far  away  as  Peru. 

A  somewhat  lower  hillock  just  west  of  the  main 


192     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

acropolis  —  if  it  deserves  that  name  —  is  shown  as 
once  being  the  servants'  quarters.  And  we  descended, 
as  is  the  common  practice,  from  the  main  ruin  to 
the  road,  by  a  rude  stone  stairway  at  what  was  for- 
merly the  back  of  the  castle,  to  the  narrow  postern,  the 
stones  of  which  form  an  almost  perfect,  but  doubtless 
quite  accidental,  archway ;  and  thence  to  our  carriage, 
which  speedily  whirled  us  away  to  Nauplia.  The  road 
thither  lay  around  a  placid  bay,  sweeping  in  a  broad 
curve  through  a  landscape  which  was  happily  marked 
by  some  very  creditable  trees.  Nauplia  herself  made 
a  pleasant  picture  to  the  approaching  eye,  lying  on 
her  well-protected  harbor  at  the  base  of  an  imposing 
cliff,  on  the  top  of  which  the  frowning  battlements  of 
an  old  Venetian  fortress  proclaimed  the  presence  of 
the  modern  state  prison  of  Greece.  The  evening  sun 
brought  out  the  whiteness  of  the  city  against  the  for- 
bidding rock  behind,  while  far  away  westward  across 
the  land-locked  bay  the  evening  light  touched  with  a 
rosy  glow  the  snowy  summit  of  Cyllene,  and  brought 
out  the  rugged  skyline  of  the  less  lofty  Peloponnesian 
mountains.  And  it  was  these  that  lay  before  us  as  our 
carriage  rattled  out  of  a  narrow  street  and  upon  the 
broad  esplanade  of  the  quay  at  the  doors  of  our  hotel. 


CHAPTER   X.      NAUPLIA   AND 
EPIDAURUS 


WE  were  awakened  in  the  morning  by  an  unac- 
customed sound,  —  a  subdued,  rapid,  rhythmic 
cadence  coming  up  from  the  esplanade  below,  accom- 
panied by  the  monotonous  undertone  of  a  voice  say- 
ing something  in  time  with  the  shuffle  of  marching 
feet,  the  whole  punctuated  now  and  then  by  a  word 
of  command  and  less  frequently  by  the  unmistakable 
clang  of  arms.  The  soldiers  from  the  fortress  were 
having  their  morning  drill.  The  words  of  command 
sounded  strangely  natural,  although  presumably  in 
Greek,  doubtless  because  military  men  the  world  over 
fall  into  the  habit  of  uttering  "  commands  of  execu- 
tion "  in  a  sort  of  unintelligible  grunt.  The  counting 
of  "  fours "  sounded  natural,  too,  despite  the  more 
marked  Hellenism  of  the  numbers.  So  far  from  being 
a  disturbance,  the  muffled  tread  of  the  troops  was 
rather  soporific,  which  is  fortunate,  because  I  have 
been  in  Nauplia  on  several  occasions,  and  this  early 


194     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

drill  appears  to  be  the  regular  thing  under  the  win- 
dows of  the  H6tel  des  Etrangers. 

The  fine  open  space  along  the  water  front  makes 
a  tempting  parade-ground,  and  at  other  hours  an 
attractive  place  for  general  assemblage,  especially  at 
evening,  when  the  people  of  Nauplia  are  to  be  seen 
lounging  along  the  wharves  or  drinking  their  cofTee 
in  the  shade  under  the  white  line  of  buildings.  The 
quay  curves  for  a  long  distance  around  the  bay,  and 
alongside  it  are  moored  many  of  those  curious  hollow 
schooners  that  do  the  coastwise  carrying  in  Greece. 
Nauplia  appears  still  to  be  something  of  a  port,  al- 
though infinitely  smaller  and  less  busy  than  either  the 
Piraeus  or  Patras.  Her  name,  of  course,  is  redolent 
of  the  sea.  The  beauty  of  her  situation  has  often 
reminded  visitors  of  Naples,  but  it  is  only  a  faint 
resemblance  to  the  Italian  city.  In  size  she  is  little 
indeed.  Scenically,  however,  her  prospects  are  mag- 
nificent, with  their  inclusion  of  a  panorama  of  distant 
and  imposing  peaks  towering  far  away  across  the  in- 
ner bay,  so  admirably  sheltered  from  the  outer  seas 
by  the  massive  promontory,  on  the  inner  shelf  of 
which  the  city  stands.  The  town  is  forced  to  be  nar- 
row because  of  the  little  space  between  the  water  and 
the  great  cliff  rising  precipitously  behind.  There  is 
room  for  little  more  than  three  parallel  streets,  and  in 
consequence  Nauplia  is  forced  to  make  up  in  length 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  195 

what  she  lacks  in  breadth,  and  strings  along  eastward 
in  a  dwindling  line  of  buildings  to  the  point  where 
the  marshy  shore  curves  around  toward  Tiryns,  or 
loses  herself  in  the  barren  countr}^  that  lies  in  the  gray 
valleys  that  lead  inland  to  Epidaurus. 

From  the  windows  of  the  hotel  the  most  conspicu- 
ous object  in  the  middle  distance  was  a  picturesque 
islet  in  the  midst  of  the  bay,  almost  entirely  covered 
by  a  yellow  fort  of  diminutive  size  and  Venetian  ap- 
pearance —  the  home  of  an  interesting  functionary, 
though  a  gruesome  one ;  to  wit,  the  national  execu- 
tioner. For  Nauplia  at  the  present  day  is  above  all 
else  the  Sing-Sing  of  Hellas,  — the  site  of  the  national 
prison,  where  are  confined  the  principal  criminals  of 
the  kingdom,  and  more  especially  those  who  are  under 
sentence  of  death.  The  medieval  fortifications  on  the 
summit  behind  the  town  have  been  converted  to  the 
base  uses  of  a  jail,  and  are  locally  known  as  the  Pal- 
amide.  We  did  not  make  the  ascent  to  the  prison, 
although  it  cannot  be  a  hard  climb,  but  contented 
ourselves  with  purchasing  the  small  wares  that  are 
vended  by  street  dealers  in  the  lower  town,  —  strings 
of  "  conversation  beads,"  odd  knives,  and  such  like 
things,  which  you  are  assured  were  made  by  "  brig- 
ands" confined  in  the  prison  above.  Somehow  a  string 
of  beads  made  by  a  Greek  *'  brigand  "  seems  a  pos- 
session to  be  coveted. 


196     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

*'  M.  de  Nauplia,"  if  that  is  the  proper  way  of  re- 
ferring to  the  headsman,  is  a  criminal  himself.  He  is 
generally,  and  probably  always,  one  who  has  been 
convicted  of  murder,  but  who  has  accepted  the  post 
of  executioner  as  the  price  of  escaping  the  extreme 
penalty  of  the  law.  It  is  no  small  price  to  pay,  for 
while  it  saves  the  neck  of  the  victim  it  means  virtual 
exile  during  the  term  of  the  service,  and  aversion  of 
all  good  people  forever.  We  were  told  that  the  ex- 
ecutioner at  the  time  was  a  man  who  had  indulged  in  a 
perfect  carnival  of  homicide  —  so  much  so  that  in  al- 
most any  other  country  he  would  have  been  deemed 
violently  and  irreclaimably  insane  and  would  have 
escaped  death  by  confinement  in  an  asylum.  But  not 
so  he.  Instead  he  w-as  sentenced  to  a  richly  deserved 
beheading  by  the  guillotine,  and  the  penalty  was  only 
commuted  by  his  agreement  to  assume  the  unwel- 
come task  of  dispatching  others  of  his  kind  —  an 
office  carrying  with  it  virtual  solitary  imprisonment 
for  a  term  variously  stated  as  from  five  to  eight  years, 
and  coupled  with  lasting  odium.  For  all  those  years 
he  must  live  on  the  executioner's  island,  unattended 
save  by  the  corporal's  guard  of  soldiers  from  the  fort, 
which  guard  is  changed  every  day  or  two,  lest  the 
men  be  contaminated  or  corrupted  into  conniving  at 
the  prisoner's  escape.  Others  told  us  that  the  term 
of  his  sanguinary  employ  was  as  long  as  twenty-five 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  197 

years,  but  this  was  far  greater  than  the  average  story- 
set  as  his  limit.  On  liberation,  it  is  said  to  be  the 
ordinary  practice  for  these  unhappy  men  to  go  abroad 
and  seek  spots  where  their  condition  is  unknown.  On 
days  when  death  sentences  are  to  be  executed  the 
headsman  is  conveyed  with  solemn  military  pomp  to 
the  Palamide  prison  above  the  city,  and  there  in  the 
prison  yard  the  guillotine  is  found  set  up  and  wait- 
ing for  the  hand  that  releases  its  death-dealing  knife. 
Whether  or  not  the  executioner  is  paid  a  stated  pit- 
tance in  any  event,  or  whether,  as  we  were  told  by 
some,  he  was  paid  so  much  "  per  head,"  we  never 
found  out.  Meantime  the  executioner's  island  unde- 
niably proves  one  of  the  features  of  Nauplia,  quaint 
to  see,  and  shrouded  with  a  sort  of  awesome  mystery. 
The  narrow  streets  of  Nauplia  furnished  diversion 
for  a  short  time.  They  proved  to  be  fairly  clean,  and 
the  morning  hours  revealed  a  picturesque  array  of 
barbaric  colored  blankets  and  rugs  hung  out  of  the 
upper  balconies  to  air.  In  one  street  a  dense  throng 
about  an  open  door  drew  attention  to  the  morning 
session  of  the  municipal  court.  The  men  roaming  the 
streets  were  mainly  in  European  dress,  although  here 
and  there  a  peasant  from  the  suburbs  displayed  his 
quaint  capote  and  pomponed  shoes.  It  was  one  of 
these  native-garbed  gentry  who  approached  us  with 
a  grin  and  stated  in  excellent  English,  that  sorted 


198     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

strangely  with  his  Hellenic  clothes,  that  he  was  once 
employed  in  an  electric  light  plant  in  Cincinnati.  Did 
he  like  it  ?  Oh,  yes  !  In  fact,  he  was  quite  ready  to  go 
back  there,  where  pay  was  better  than  in  Nauplia. 
And  with  an  expressive  shrug  and  comprehensive 
gesture  that  took  in  the  whole  broad  sweep  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  the  Atreidai,  he  added,  "  Argos  is 
broke  ;  no  good ! "  One  other  such  deserves  men- 
tion, perhaps ;  one  who  broke  in  on  a  reverential 
reverie  one  day,  as  we  were  contemplating  a  Greek 
dance  in  a  classic  neighborhood,  with  some  English 
that  savored  of  the  Bowery  brand,  informing  us  that 
he  had  been  in  America  and  had  traveled  all  over 
that  land  of  plenty  in  the  peregrinations  of  Barnum's 
circus,  adding  as  a  most  convincing  passport  to  our 
friendship,  "  I  was  wit'  old  man  Barnum  w'en  he 
died."  Greeks  who  speak  English  are  plentiful  in  the 
Peloponnesus,  and  even  those  who  make  no  other 
pretensions  to  knowledge  of  the  tongue  are  proud  of 
being  able  to  say  "all  right"  in  response  to  labored 
efforts  at  pidgin  Greek, 

It  did  not  take  long  to  exhaust  the  interest  of  the 
city  of  Nauplia  itself,  including  a  survey  of  the  mas- 
sive walls  that  survive  from  the  Middle  Ages.  And  it 
was  fortunate,  too,  because  we  had  planned  to  spend 
the  day  at  Epidaurus,  which  lies  eighteen  miles  or 
so  away,  and  was  to  be  reached  only  by  a  long  and 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  199 

arduous  ride  in  a  carriage  —  the  same  highly  respect- 
able old  landau  in  which  we  had  ridden  the  length  of 
Agamemnon's  kingdom  the  day  before.  Owing  to 
the  grade  and  the  considerable  solidity  of  our  party 
a  third  horse  was  in  some  miraculous  way  attached 
by  ropes  to  the  carriage,  the  lunch  was  loaded  in  the 
hood  forward,  and  we  rattled  away  through  the  nar- 
row streets  toward  the  open  country  east  of  the  town 
—  a  country  that  we  soon  discovered  to  be  made  up 
of  narrow  valleys  winding  among  gray  and  treeless 
hills,  whose  height  increased  steadily  as  the  highway 
wound  along.  It  was  a  good  highway  —  the  distances 
being  marked  in  "stadia,"  as  the  Greek  classically 
terms  his  kilometres,  and  the  stadium  posts  constantly 
reminding  us  that  this  was  an  "  Odos  Ethnike,"  or 
national  road.  But  we  missed  sadly  the  large  trees 
that  are  to  be  seen  in  the  close  neighborhood  of  the 
city  as  we  jogged  out  on  the  dusty  road  in  the  heat 
of  the  increasing  April  day. 

The  grade,  while  not  steep,  was  mainly  upward 
through  the  long  valleys,  making  the  journey  a  mat- 
ter of  more  than  three  hours  under  the  most  favorable 
of  conditions ;  and  the  general  sameness  of  the  scenery 
made  it  a  rather  monotonous  drive.  Of  human  habi- 
tation there  was  almost  none,  for  although  here  and 
there  one  might  find  a  vineyard,  the  greater  part  of 
the  adjacent  land  is  little  more  than  rocky  pasture.  It 


200     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

soon  developed,  however,  that  the  modern  Greek 
shepherd  is  not  afraid  to  play  his  pipes  at  noonday 
through  any  fear  of  exciting  the  wrath  or  jealousy  of 
Pan,  as  was  once  the  case ;  for  from  the  mountain- 
sides and  from  under  the  scanty  shade  of  isolated 
olive  trees  we  kept  hearing  the  plaintive  wailing  of 
the  pipes,  faint  and  far  away,  where  some  tender  of 
the  flocks  was  beguiling  the  time  in  music.  This  dis- 
tant piping  is  indescribable.  The  tone  is  hardly  to  be 
called  shrill,  for  it  is  so  only  in  the  sense  that  its  pitch 
is  high  like  the  ordinary  human  whistling  ;  in  quality 
it  is  a  soft  note,  apparently  following  no  particular 
tune  but  wavering  up  and  down,  and  generally  end- 
ing in  a  minor  wail  that  soon  grows  pleasant  to  hear. 
Besides,  it  recalls  the  idyls  of  Theocritus,  and  the  pas- 
torals and  bucolics  take  on  a  new  meaning  to  any- 
body who  has  heard  the  music  of  the  shepherd  lads 
of  Greece.  Nothing  would  do  but  we  must  buy  pipes 
and  learn  to  play  upon  them ;  so  a  zealous  inquiry 
was  instituted  among  the  wayfaring  men  we  met,  with 
a  view  to  securing  the  same.  It  was  not  on  this  day, 
however,  but  on  the  next  that  we  finally  succeeded 
in  buying  what  certainly  looked  like  pipes,  but  which 
turned  out  to  be  delusions  and  snares  so  far  as  music 
was  concerned.  They  were  straight  wooden  tubes,  in 
which  holes  had  been  burned  out  at  regular  inter- 
vals to  form  "  stops  "  for  varying  the  tone.  No  reed 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  201 

was  inserted  in  them,  and  if  they  were  to  be  played 
upon  at  all  it  must  be  by  reason  of  a  most  accom- 
plished "lip."  We  derived  considerable  amusement 
from  them,  however,  by  attempting  to  reproduce  on 
them  the  mellifluous  whistling  of  the  natives ;  but 
the  nearest  approach  to  awakening  any  sound  at  all 
which  any  of  our  party  achieved  was  so  lugubriously 
melancholy  that  he  was  solemnly  enjoined  and  com- 
manded never  to  try  it  again,  on  pain  of  being  turned 
over  to  "  M.  de  Nauplia"  as  the  only  fitting  punish- 
ment. Later  we  found  that  the  flute-like  notes  that 
we  heard  floating  down  over  the  vales  from  invisible 
shepherds  came  from  a  very  different  sort  of  wind 
instrument  —  a  reed  pipe  of  bamboo  not  unlike  the 
American  boy's  willow  whistle,  with  six  or  seven 
stops  bored  out  of  the  tube. 

The  wayfarers  were  decidedly  the  most  interesting 
sights  on  the  Epidaurus  road.  Several  stadia  out  of 
Nauplia  a  stalwart  man  came  striding  down  a  hill 
from  his  flocks  and  took  the  road  to  town.  He  was 
dressed  in  the  peasant  garb,  and  across  his  shoulders 
he  bore  a  yoke,  from  either  end  of  which  depended 
large  yellow  sacks  containing  freshly  made  cheese, 
the  moisture  draining  through  the  meshes  of  the  cloth 
as  he  walked  along  to  market.  These  cheeses  we  had 
met  with  in  the  little  markets  at  Athens  and  found 
not  unpleasant,  once  one  grows  accustomed  to  the 


202     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

goat's  milk  flavor  and  the  "  freshness ;  "  although  it 
is  probable  that  a  taste  for  Greek  cheese,  like  that  for 
the  resinated  wine,  is  an  acquired  one. 

Groups  of  shepherds  were  encountered  now  and 
then,  especially  at  the  few  points  along  the  way  where 
buildings  and  shade  were  to  be  found.  They  were  all 
picturesque  in  their  country  dress,  but  more  especially 
the  women,  who  spin  flax  as  they  walk  and  who  prob- 
ably ply  a  trade  as  old  as  Hellenic  civilization  itself 
in  about  the  same  general  way  that  their  most  remote 
ancestors  plied  it.  These  little  knots  of  peasants  read- 
ily enough  posed  for  the  camera,  and  were  contented 
with  a  penny  apiece  for  drink-money.  Not  the  least 
curious  feature  of  these  peasant  herdsmen  was  the 
type  of  crook  ca*rried  —  not  the  large,  curved  crook 
that  the  ordinary  preconceived  ideal  pictures,  but 
straight  sticks  with  a  queer  little  narrow  quirk  in  the 
end,  with  which  the  shepherd  catches  the  agile  and 
elusive  goat  or  lamb  by  the  hind  leg  and  thus  holds 
it  until  he  is  able  to  seize  the  animal  in  some  more 
suitable  part.  These  herdsmen  proved  hospitable 
folk,  ready  enough  with  offers  of  milk  fresh  from  the 
herd,  which  is  esteemed  a  delicacy  by  them,  whatever 
it  might  have  seemed  to  our  uneducated  palates. 

Perhaps  halfway  out  to  Epidaurus  one  passes  an- 
other remnant  of  the  most  remote  time  —  a  lofty 
fortification  on  a  deserted  hill.    It  is  of  polygonal 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  203 

masonry  —  that  is,  of  angular  stones  fitted  together 
without  mortar,  instead  of  being  squared  after  the 
manner  of  the  Cyclopes.  Hard  by,  spanning  a  ravine 
which  has  been  worn  by  centuries  of  winter  torrents, 
there  was  a  Cyclopean  bridge,  made  of  huge  rocks 
so  arranged  as  to  form  an  enduring  arch,  and  on  this 
once  ran  no  doubt  the  great  highway  from  Epidaurus 
to  the  plain  of  Argos. 

It  was  long  after  the  noontide  hour  when  the  gray 
theatre  of  Epidaurus,  a  mere  splash  of  stone  in  the 
distant  side  of  a  green  hill,  came  in  sight,  lying  a  mile 
or  so  away  across  a  level  field,  in  which  lay  scattered 
the  remnants  of  what  was  once  the  most  celebrated 
hospital  in  the  world.  For  Epidaurus  boasted  herself 
to  be  the  birthplace  of  ^sculapius, — or,  as  we  are  on 
Greek  soil,  Asklepios, — and  held  his  memory  in  deep 
reverence  forever  after  by  erecting  on  the  site  a  vast 
establishment  such  as  to-day  we  might  call  a  "  sani- 
tarium." After  the  heat  and  dust  of  the  ride  it  was 
pleasant  to  stretch  out  in  the  shade  of  the  scanty  local 
trees,  on  the  fragrant  grass  of  the  rising  ground  near 
the.  theatre,  and  look  back  down  the  long  valley,  with 
its  distant  blue  mountains  framed  in  a  vista  of  mas- 
sive gray  hills.  The  nearer  ones  were  impressive  in 
their  height,  but  absolutely  denuded  of  vegetation, 
like  the  hills  around  Attica ;  and  it  was  these  moun- 
tains that  formed  the  sole  scenery  for  the  background 


204    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  plays  produced  in  the  great  theatre  close  by.  The 
theatre,  of  course,  is  the  great  and  central  attraction 
at  Epidaurus  to-day,  for  it  is  in  splendid  preserva- 
tion while  all  else  is  a  confusing  mass  of  flat  ruins. 
No  ancient  theatre  is  better  preserved,  or  can  surpass 
this  one  for  general  grace  of  lines  or  perfection  of 
acoustic  properties.  Many  were  doubtless  larger,  but 
among  all  the  old  Greek  theatres  Epidaurus  best  pre- 
serves to  the  modern  eye  the  playhouse  of  the  an- 
cients, circular  orchestra  and  all.  The  acoustics  any- 
body may  test  easily  enough.  We  disposed  ourselves 
over  the  theatre  in  various  positions,  high  and  low, 
along  the  half-a-hundred  tiers  of  seats,  and  listened 
to  an  oration  dealing  with  the  points  of  interest  in  the 
theatre's  construction  delivered  in  a  very  ordinary 
tone,  from  the  centre  of  the  orchestra,  but  audible  in 
the  remotest  tier. 

The  circle  of  the  orchestra  is  not  paved,  as  had 
been  the  case  with  the  theatres  seen  at  Athens,  but  is 
a  green  lawn,  in  the  centre  of  which  a  stone  dot  re- 
veals the  site  of  the  ancient  altar.  It  was  stated  that 
the  circle  is  not  actually  as  perfect  as  it  looks,  being 
shorter  in  one  set  of  radii  by  something  like  two  feet. 
But  to  all  appearance  it  is  absolutely  round,  and  is 
easily  the  most  beautiful  type  of  the  circular  orchestra 
in  existence  to-day,  if  indeed  it  is  not  the  only  perfect 
one.  The  immense  amphitheatre  surrounding  it  was 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  205 

evidently  largely  a  natural  one,  which  a  little  artificial 
stonework  easily  made  complete ;  and  it  is  so  perfect 
to-day  that  a  very  little  labor  would  make  it  entirely 
possible  to  give  a  play  there  now  before  a  vast  audi- 
ence. Some  such  plan  was  actually  talked  of  a  few 
years  ago,  but  abandoned,  —  no  doubt,  because  of  the 
apparent  difficulty  of  getting  any  very  considerable 
company  of  auditors  to  the  spot,  or  of  housing  them 
while  there.  It  would  be  necessary,  also,  to  rebuild 
the  proskenion,  the  foundations  of  which  are  still  to 
be  seen  behind  the  orchestra,  and  one  may  tremble 
to  think  of  what  might  happen  in  the  process  should 
the  advocates  of  the  stage  theory  and  their  opponents 
fail  to  agree  better  than  they  have  hitherto  done. 

From  the  inspection  of  the  theatre  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  view  across  the  plain  to  the  rugged  hills 
our  dragoman  called  us  to  lunch,  which  was  spread 
in  a  little  rustic  pergola  below.  He  had  thoughtfully 
provided  fresh  mullets,  caught  that  morning  off  the 
Nauplia  quay,  and  had  cooked  them  in  the  little  house 
occupied  by  the  local  custode.  Hunger,  however,  was 
far  less  a  matter  of  concern  than  thirst.  We  had  been 
warned  not  to  drink  of  the  waters  of  the  sacred  well 
of  Asklepios  in  the  field  below,  and  as  there  was  no 
spring  vouched  for  with  that  certitude  that  had  at- 
tended the  waters  of  Castalia,  we  were  thrown  back, 
as  usual,  on  the  bottled  product  of  the  island  of  An- 


2o6     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

dros  —  a  water  which  is  not  only  intrinsically  pure 
and  excellent,  but  well  worth  the  price  of  admission 
from  the  quaint  English  on  its  label.  In  rendering 
their  panegyric  on  the  springs  of  Andros  into  the 
English  tongue,  the  translators  have  declared  that  it 
"  is  the  equal  of  its  superior  mineral  waters  of  Eu- 
rope." 

The  sacred  well  of  the  god,  however,  proved  later 
in  the  day  that  it  had  not  lost  all  its  virtues  even  un- 
der the  assaults  of  the  modern  germ  theory  ;  for  while 
we  were  wandering  through  the  maze  of  ruins  in  the 
strong  heat  of  the  early  afternoon  one  of  our  company 
was  decidedly  inconvenienced  by  an  ordinary  "  nose- 
bleed"—  which  prompt  applications  of  the  water, 
drawn  up  in  an  incongruous  tin  pail,  instantly  stopped. 
And  thus  did  we  add  what  is  probably  the  latest  cure, 
and  the  only  one  for  some  centuries,  worked  by  the 
once  celebrated  institution  patronized  by  the  native 
divinity.  It  is  related  that  the  god  was  born  on  the 
hillside  just  east  of  the  meadow,  but  this  story  is  sadly 
in  conflict  with  other  traditions.  It  seems  that  As- 
klepios  was  not  originally  a  divinity,  but  a  mere  hu- 
man, as  he  seems  to  be  in  the  Homeric  poems.  His 
deification  came  later,  as  not  infrequently  happened 
in  ancient  times,  and  with  it  came  a  network  of 
legends  ascribing  a  godlike  paternity  to  him  and  as- 
signing no  less  a  sire  than  Apollo.  Indeed,  it  is  stated 


THEATRE  AT  EPIDAURUS 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  207 

by  some  authorities  that  the  worship  of  Asklepios  did 
not  originate  in  Epidaurus  at  all,  but  in  Thessaly  ;  and 
that  the  cult  was  a  transplanted  one  in  its  chief  site 
in  the  Peloponnesus,  brought  there  by  Thessalian 
adventurers. 

All  over  the  meadow  below  the  great  theatre  are 
scattered  the  remains  of  the  ancient  establishment. 
The  ceremony  of  healing  at  Epidaurus  seems  to  have 
been  in  large  part  a  faith-cure  arrangement,  although 
not  entirely  so ;  for  there  is  reason  to  believe  that,  as 
at  Delphi,  there  was  more  or  less  natural  common 
sense  employed  in  the  miracle-working,  and  that  the 
priests  of  the  healing  art  actually  acquired  not  a  little 
primitive  skill  in  medicine.  It  was  a  skill,  however, 
which  was  attended  by  more  or  less  mummery  and 
circumstance,  useful  for  impressing  the  mind  of  the 
patient ;  but  this  is  not  even  to-day  entirely  absent 
from  the  practice  of  medicine  with  its  "  placebos  "  and 
"therapeutic  suggestion"  elements.  The  custom  of 
sending  the  patient  to  rest  in  a  loggia  with  others, 
where  he  might  expect  a  nocturnal  visitation  of  the 
god  himself,  has  been  referred  to  in  these  pages  before, 
and  survives  even  to-day  in  the  island  of  Tenos  at  the 
eve  of  the  Annunciation.  The  tales  of  marvelous  cures 
at  Epidaurus  were  doubtless  as  common  and  as  well 
authenticated  as  the  similar  modern  stories  at  Lourdes 
and  Ste.  Anne  de  Beaupre. 


2o8     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

In  addition  to  the  actual  apartments  devoted  to  the 
sleeping  patients,  which  were  but  a  small  part  of  the 
sanitarium's  equipment,  there  was  the  inevitable  great 
temple  of  the  god  himself,  —  a  large  gymnasium  sug- 
gestive of  the  faith  the  doctors  placed  in  bodily  ex- 
ercise as  a  remedy,  and  a  large  building  said  to  be 
the  first  example  of  a  hospital  ward,  beside  numerous 
incidental  buildings  devoted  to  lodgment.  Satirical 
commentators  have  called  attention  to  the  presence 
of  shrines  to  the  honor  of  Aphrodite  and  Dionysus  as 
bearing  enduring  witness  to  the  part  that  devotion  to 
those  divinities  seems  to  have  been  thought  to  bear 
in  afflicting  the  human  race.  The  presence  of  the 
magnificent  theatre  and  the  existence  of  a  commo- 
dious stadium  testify  that  life  at  Epidaurus  was  not 
without  its  diversions  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  the  med- 
ical treatment.  And  in  its  day  it  must  have  been  a 
large  and  beautiful  agglomeration  of  buildings.  To- 
day it  is  as  much  of  a  maze  as  the  ruins  at  Delphi  or 
at  Olympia.  The  non-archaeological  visitor  will  prob- 
ably find  his  greatest  interest  in  the  theatre  and  in 
the  curious  circular  "tholos" — a  remarkable  build- 
ing, the  purpose  of  which  is  not  clear,  made  of  a  num- 
ber of  concentric  rings  of  stone  which  once  bore  col- 
onnades. It  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  great  precinct, 
and  in  its  ruined  state  it  resembles  nothing  so  much 
as  the  once  celebrated  "  pigs-in-clover  "  puzzle.  In  the 


NAUPLIA  AND  EPIDAURUS  209 

little  museum  on  the  knoll  above,  a  very  successful 
attempt  has  been  made  to  give  an  idea  of  this  beauti- 
ful temple  by  a  partial  restoration.  Being  indoors,  it 
can  give  no  idea  either  of  the  diameter  or  height  of 
the  original ;  but  the  inclusion  of  fragments  of  archi- 
trave and  columns  serve  to  convey  an  impression  of 
the  general  beauty  of  the  structure,  as  we  had  seen  to 
be  the  case  with  similar  fractional  restorations  at  Del- 
phi. The  extensive  ruins  in  the  precinct  itself  do  not 
lend  themselves  to  non-technical  description.  They 
are  almost  entirely  fiat,  and  the  ground  plans  serve 
to  identify  most  of  the  buildings,  without  giving  any 
very  good  idea  of  their  appearance  when  complete. 
Pavements  still  remain  intact  in  some  of  the  rooms, 
and  altar  bases  and  exedral  seats  lie  all  about  in  ap- 
parent confusion.  Nevertheless  the  discoveries  have 
been  plotted  and  identified  with  practical  complete- 
ness, and  it  is  easy  enough  with  the  aid  of  the  plans 
to  pass  through  the  precinct  and  get  a  very  good  idea 
of  the  manifold  buildings  which  once  went  to  make 
up  what  must  have  been  a  populous  and  attractive 
resort  for  the  sick.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
religious  aspects  of  the  worship  of  Asklepios,  it  is 
evident  that  the  regimen  prescribed  by  the  cult 
at  Epidaurus,  with  its  regard  for  pure  mountain  air 
and  healthful  bodily  exercise,  not  to  mention  welcome 
diversion  and  amusement  for  the  mind,  was  furthered 


2IO    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

by  ample  facilities  in  the  way  of  equipment  of  this 
world-famous  hospital. 

When  we  were  there  the  Greek  School  of  Archae- 
ology was  engaged  in  digging  near  the  great  temple 
of  the  god,  the  foundations  of  which  have  now  been 
completely  explored  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  it 
was  interesting  to  see  the  primitive  way  in  which  the 
excavation  was  being  carried  on.  Men  with  curiously 
shaped  picks  and  shovels  were  loosening  the  earth 
and  tossing  it  into  baskets  of  wicker  stufi,  which  in 
turn  were  borne  on  the  heads  of  women  to  a  distance 
and  there  dumped.  It  was  slow  work,  and  apparently 
nothing  very  exciting  was  discovered.  Certainly  no- 
thing was  unearthed  while  we  were  watching  this 
laborious  toil. 


CHAPTER  XL     IN  ARCADIA 


WITH  the  benison  of  the  landlord,  who  promised 
to  send  our  luncheon  over  to  the  station  "  in 
a  little  boy,"  we  departed  from  Nauplia  on  a  train 
toward  noontime,  headed  for  the  interior  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus by  way  of  Arcadia.  The  journey  that  we 
had  mapped  out  for  ourselves  was  somewhat  off  the 
beaten  path,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  always 
will  be  so,  at  least  for  those  travelers  who  insist  on 
railway  lines  and  hotels  as  conditions  precedent  to  an 
inland  voyage,  and  who  prefer  to  avoid  the  primitive 
towns  and  the  small  comforts  of  peasants'  houses. 
Indeed  our  own  feelings  verged  on  the  apprehensive 
at  the  time,  although  when  it  was  all  over  we  won- 
dered not  a  little  at  the  fact.  Our  plan  was  to  leave 
the  line  of  the  railway,  which  now  entirely  encircles 
the  Peloponnesus,  at  a  point  about  midway  in  the 
eastern  side,  and  to  strike  boldly  across  the  middle 
of  the  Peloponnesus  to  the  western  coast  at  Olympia, 
visiting  on  the  way  the  towns  of  Megalopolis  and 


212     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Andhritssena,  and  the  temple  at  Bassse.  This  meant 
a  long  day's  ride  in  a  carriage  and  two  days  of  horse- 
back riding  over  mountain  trails  ;  and  as  none  of  us, 
including  the  two  ladies,  was  accustomed  to  eques- 
trian exercises,  the  apprehensions  that  attended  our 
departure  from  the  Nauplia  station  were  perhaps  not 
unnatural. 

It  had  been  necessary  to  secure  the  services  of  a 
dragoman  for  the  trip,  as  none  of  us  spoke  more  than 
Greek  enough  to  get  eggs  and  such  common  neces- 
saries of  life,  and  we  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
country  into  the  heart  of  which  we  were  about  to 
venture.  The  dragoman  on  such  a  trip  takes  entire 
charge  of  you.  Your  one  duty  is  to  provide  the  costs. 
He  attends  to  everything  else  —  wires  ahead  for  car- 
riages, secures  horses,  guides,  and  muleteers,  provides 
all  the  food,  hotel  accommodation,  tips,  railway  tick- 
ets, and  even  afternoon  tea.  This  comprehensive  ser- 
vice is  to  be  secured  at  the  stated  sum  of  ten  dol- 
lars a  day  per  person,  and  in  our  case  it  included 
not  only  the  above  things,  but  beds  and  bedding  and 
our  own  private  and  especial  cook.  To  those  accus- 
tomed to  traveling  in  luxury,  ten  dollars  a  day  does 
not  seem  a  high  traveling  average.  To  those  like  our- 
selves accustomed  to  seeing  the  world  on  a  daily  ex- 
penditure of  something  like  half  that  sum,  it  is  likely 
to  seem  at  first  a  trifle  extravagant.  However,  let  it  be 


IN  ARCADIA  213 

added  with  all  becoming  haste,  it  is  the  only  way  to 
see  the  interior  of  Greece  with  any  comfort  at  all,  and 
the  comfort  which  it  does  enable  is  easily  worth  the 
cost  that  it  entails. 

From  the  moment  we  left  Nauplia  we  were  devoid 
of  any  care  whatever.  We  placed  ourselves  unreserv- 
edly in  the  keeping  of  an  accomplished  young  Athe- 
nian bearing  the  name  of  Spyros  Apostolis,  who  came 
to  us  well  recommended  by  those  we  had  known  in 
the  city,  and  who  contracted  to  furnish  us  with  every 
reasonable  comfort  and  transportation  as  hereinbe- 
fore set  forth,  and  also  to  supply  all  the  mythology, 
archaeology,  geography,  history,  and  so  forth  that  we 
should  happen  to  require.  For  Spyros,  as  we  learned 
to  call  him,  was  versed  not  only  in  various  languages, 
including  a  very  excellent  brand  of  English,  but 
boasted  not  a  little  technical  archaeological  lore  and 
a  command  of  ancient  history  that  came  in  very  aptly 
in  traversing  famous  ground.  It  came  to  pass  in  a 
very  few  days  that  we  regarded  Spyros  in  the  light 
of  an  old  friend,  and  appealed  to  him  as  the  supreme 
arbiter  of  every  conceivable  question,  from  that  of 
proper  wearing  apparel  to  the  name  of  a  distant  peak. 

It  was  in  the  comfortable  knowledge  that  for  the 
next  few  days  we  had  absolutely  no  bargaining  to  do 
and  that  for  the  present  Spyros,  who  was  somewhere 
in  the  train,  had  first-class  tickets  for  our  transporta- 


214    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

tion,  that  we  settled  back  on  the  cushions  and  watched 
the  receding  landscape  and  the  diminishing  bulk  of 
the  Nauplia  cliffs.  The  train  religiously  stopped  at  the 
station  of  Tiryns  —  think  of  a  station  provided  for  a 
deserted  acropolis  !  —  and  then  jogged  comfortably 
along  to  Argos,  where  we  were  to  change  cars.  It 
was  here  that  we  bought  our  shepherd  pipes  ;  and  we 
were  practicing  assiduously  on  them  with  no  result 
save  that  of  convulsing  the  gathered  populace  on  the 
platform,  when  an  urchin  of  the  village  spied  a  puff 
of  steam  up  the  line  and  set  all  agog  by  the  classic 
exclamation,  "  epx^rat,"  equivalent  to  the  New  England 
lad's  "  she 's  comin' !  " 

The  comfort  of  being  handed  into  that  train  by 
Spyros  and  seeing  our  baggage  set  in  after  us  with- 
out a  qualm  over  the  proper  fee  for  the  facckmi  can 
only  be  realized  by  those  who  have  experienced  it. 
And,  by  the  way,  the  baggage  was  reduced  to  the 
minimum  for  the  journey,  consisting  of  a  suit  case 
apiece.  Our  party  was  composed  of  those  who  habitu- 
ally "  travel  light,"  even  on  the  regular  lines  of  traffic; 
but  for  the  occasion  we  had  curtailed  even  our  usual 
amount  of  impedimenta  by  sending  two  of  our  grips 
around  to  the  other  end  of  our  route  by  the  northern 
rail.  Nobody  would  care  to  essay  this  cross-country 
jaunt  with  needless  luggage,  where  every  extra  tends 
to  multiply  the  number  of  pack  mules. 


IN  ARCADIA  215 

The  train,  which  was  fresh  from  Athens  and  bound 
for  the  southern  port  of  Kalamata,  soon  turned  aside 
from  the  ^gean  coast  and  began  a  laborious  ascent 
along  the  sides  of  deep  valleys,  the  line  making  im- 
mense horseshoes  as  it  picked  its  way  along,  with 
frequent  rocky  cuts  but  never  a  tunnel.  I  do  not 
recall  that  we  passed  through  a  single  tunnel  in  all 
Greece.  The  views  from  the  windows,  which  were 
frequently  superb  as  the  train  panted  slowly  and 
painfully  up  the  long  grades,  nevertheless  were  of 
the  traditional  rocky  character  —  all  rugged  hills 
devoid  of  greenery,  barren  valleys  where  no  water 
was,  often  suggesting  nothing  so  much  as  the  rocky 
heights  of  Colorado.  It  tended  to  make  the  contrast 
the  sharper  when  the  train,  attaining  the  heights  at 
last,  shot  through  a  pass  which  led  us  out  of  the 
barren  rocks  and  into  the  heart  of  the  broad  plain 
of  Arcady.  It  was  the  real  Arcadia  of  the  poets 
and  painters,  utterly  different  from  the  gray  country 
which  we  had  been  sojourning  in  and  had  come  to 
regard  as  typical  of  all  Greece.  It  was  the  Arcadia  of 
our  dreams  —  a  broad,  peaceful,  fertile  plain,  green 
and  smiling,  peopled  with  pastoral  folk,  tillers  of  the 
fields,  shepherds,  and  doubtless  poets,  pipers,  and 
nymphs.  There  is  grandeur  and  beauty  in  the  rugged 
hills  and  narrow  valleys  of  the  north,  but  it  would  be 
wrong  to  assume  that  Greece  is  simply  that  and  no- 


2i6    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

thing  more.  At  least  a  portion  of  Arcadia  is  exactly 
what  the  poets  sing.  The  hills  retreated  suddenly  to 
the  remote  distance  and  left  the  railway  running  along 
a  level  plain  dotted  with  farms.  Water  ran  rejoicing 
through.  Trees  waved  on  the  banks  of  the  brooks. 
Far  off  to  the  south  the  rugged  bulk  of  Taygetos 
marked  from  afar  the  site  of  Sparta,  the  long  ridge 
of  the  mountain  still  covered  with  a  field  of  gleaming 
snow. 

Arcadia  boasts  two  of  these  large,  oval  plains,  the 
one  dominated  by  Tripolis  and  the  other  by  Mega- 
lopolis. Into  the  first-mentioned  the  train  trundled 
early  in  the  afternoon  and  came  to  a  halt  amid  a  shout- 
ing crowd  of  carriage  drivers  clamoring  for  passen- 
gers to  alight  and  make  the  drive  down  to  Sparta. 
The  road  is  said  to  be  an  excellent  one,  and  that 
we  had  not  planned  to  lengthen  our  journey  to  that 
point,  and  thence  westward  by  the  Langada  Pass  to 
the  country  which  we  later  saw,  has  always  been  one 
of  the  regrets  which  mark  our  Hellenic  memories. 
Sparta  has  made  little  appeal  to  the  modern  visitor 
through  any  surviving  remains  of  her  ancient  great- 
ness, and  has  fallen  into  exactly  the  state  that  Thu- 
cydides  predicted  for  her.  For  he  sagely  remarked, 
in  comparing  the  city  with  Athens,  that  future  ages 
were  certain  to  underestimate  Sparta's  size  and 
power  because  of  the  paucity  of  enduring  monu- 


IN  ARCADIA  217 

ments,  whereas  the  buildings  at  Athens  would  be 
likely  to  inspire  the  beholder  with  the  idea  that  she 
was  greater  than  she  really  was.  That  is  exactly  true 
to-day,  although  the  enterprising  British  school  has 
lately  undertaken  the  task  of  exploring  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Lacedaemonian  city  and  has  already  uncov- 
ered remains  that  are  interesting  archseologically, 
whatever  may  be  true  of  their  comparison  with  Athe- 
nian monuments  for  beauty.  In  any  event,  Sparta, 
with  her  stern  discipline,  rude  ideals,  and  martial 
rather  than  intellectual  virtues,  can  never  hope  to 
appeal  to  modern  civilization  as  Athens  has  done, 
although  her  ultimate  overwhelming  of  the  Athenian 
state  entitles  her  to  historical  interest.  Sparta  lies 
hard  by  the  mountain  Taygetos,  and  to  this  day  they 
show  you  a  ravine  on  the  mountain-side  where  it  is 
claimed  the  deformed  and  weakly  Spartan  children 
were  cast,  to  remove  them  from  among  a  race  which 
prized  bodily  vigor  above  every  other  consideration. 
It  is  a  pity  that  Sparta,  which  played  so  vast  a  part 
in  early  history,  should  have  left  so  little  to  recall  her 
material  existence.  If  she  was  not  elegant  or  cultured, 
she  was  strong ;  and  her  ultimate  triumph  went  to 
prove  that  the  land  where  wealth  accumulates  and 
men  decay  has  a  less  sure  grip  on  life  than  the  ruder, 
sterner  nations. 

So  it  was  that  we  passed  Sparta  by  on  the  other 


2i8    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

side  and  journeyed  on  from  the  smiling  plain  of  Tri- 
polis  to  the  equally  smiling  one  of  Megalopolis,  enter- 
ing thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  Arcadia  and  vainly 
seeking  the  while  to  bring  from  those  shepherd  pipes 
melody  fit  to  voice  the  joy  of  the  occasion.  It  was 
apparent  now  that  we  had  crossed  the  main  water- 
shed of  Hellas,  for  the  train  was  on  a  downward 
grade  and  the  brakes  shrieked  and  squealed  shrilly 
as  we  ground  into  a  tiny  junction  where  stood  the 
little  branch-line  train  for  Megalopolis.  And  in  the 
cool  of  the  afternoon  we  found  ourselves  in  that  mis- 
named town,  in  the  very  heart  of  Arcadia,  the  late 
afternoon  light  falling  obliquely  from  the  westering 
sun  as  it  sank  behind  an  imposing  row  of  serrated 
mountains,  far  away. 

To  one  even  remotely  acquainted  with  Greek  roots, 
the  name  Megalopolis  must  signify  a  large  city.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  once  was  so.  It  was  erected  de- 
liberately with  the  intention  of  making  a  large  city, 
founded  by  three  neighboring  states,  as  a  make- 
weight against  the  increasing  power  of  the  Lacedae- 
monians ;  but,  like  most  places  built  on  mere  fiat,  it 
dwindled  away,  until  to-day  it  is  a  village  that  might 
more  appropriately  be  called  Mikropolis  —  if,  indeed, 
it  is  entitled  to  be  called  a  "  polls  "  of  any  sort.  The 
railway  station,  as  usual,  lay  far  outside  the  village, 
and  in  the  station  yard  the  one  carriage  of  the  town 


IN  ARCADIA  219 

was  awaiting  us.  Into  it  we  were  thrust ;  Spyros 
mounted  beside  the  driver,  a  swarthy  native ;  and 
with  a  rattle  that  recalled  the  famous  Deadwood 
coach  we  whirled  out  of  the  inclosure  and  off  to  the 
town.  The  village  itself  proved  to  be  but  a  sorry 
hole,  to  put  it  in  the  mildest  form.  It  was  made  up 
of  a  fringe  of  buildings  around  a  vacant  common, 
level  as  a  floor  and  sparsely  carpeted  with  grass  and 
weeds.  As  we  passed  house  after  house  without  turn- 
ing in,  hope  grew,  along  with  thankfulness,  that  we 
had  at  least  escaped  spending  the  night  in  any  hovel 
hitherto  seen.  Nevertheless  we  did  eventually  stop 
before  a  dingy  abode,  and  were  directed  to  alight  and 
enter  there.  Under  a  dark  stone  archway  and  over  a 
muddy  floor  of  stone  pavement  we  picked  our  gin- 
gerly way,  emerging  in  a  sort  of  inner  court,  which 
Spyros  pointed  out  was  a  '*  direct  survival  of  the 
hypaethral  megaron  of  the  ancient  Mycenaean  house" 
—  a  glorified  ancestry  indeed  for  a  dirty  area  around 
which  were  grouped  the  apartments  of  the  family  pig, 
cow,  and  sundry  other  household  appurtenances  and 
attaches.  It  was  an  unpromising  prelude  for  a  night's 
lodging,  but  it  made  surprise  all  the  greater  when  we 
emerged,  by  means  of  a  flight  of  rickety  stairs,  on  a 
little  balcony  above,  and  beheld  adjoining  it  the  apart- 
ments destined  for  our  use.  They  had  been  swept 
and  garnished,  and  the  floors  had  been  scrubbed 


220    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

until  they  shone.  The  collapsible  iron  beds  had  been 
erected  and  the  bedding  spread  upon  them,  while 
near  by  stood  the  dinner  table  already  laid  for  the 
evening  meal ;  and  presiding  over  it  all  stood  the 
cook,  to  whose  energy  all  these  preparations  were 
due,  smiling  genially  through  a  forest  of  mustache, 
and  duly  presented  to  us  as  "  Stathi." 

In  the  twilight  we  whetted  our  appetites  for  dinner 
by  a  brisk  walk  out  of  the  village,  perhaps  half  a  mile 
away,  to  the  site  of  the  few  and  meagre  ruins  that 
Megalopolis  has  to  show.  Our  progress  thither  was 
attended  with  pomp  and  pageantry  furnished  by  the 
rabble  of  small  boys  and  girls  whose  presence  was  at 
first  undesirable  enough,  but  who  later  proved  useful 
as  directing  us  to  the  lane  that  led  to  the  ruins  and 
as  guards  in  stoning  off  sundry  sheep  dogs  that  dis- 
puted the  way  with  us.  The  usual  disbursement  of 
lepta  ensued,  and  we  were  left  to  inspect  the  remains 
of  ancient  greatness  in  peace.  Those  remains  were 
few  and  grass-grown.  They  included  little  more  than 
a  theatre,  once  one  of  the  greatest  in  Greece,  with  the 
structures  behind  the  orchestra  still  largely  visible, 
and  a  few  foundations  of  buildings  behind  these,  on 
the  bank  of  a  winding  river.  Aside  from  these  the 
old  Megalopolis  is  no  more. 

That  night  we  sat  down  to  a  dinner  such  as  few 
hotels  in  Athens  could  have  bettered.    The  candle- 


IN  ARCADIA  221 

sticks  on  the  table  were  of  polished  silver,  which  bore 
the  monogram  of  the  ancestors  of  Spyros.  Our  table- 
cloth and  napkins  were  embroidered.  Our  dishes 
were  all  of  a  pattern,  and  we  afterwards  discovered 
that  every  piece  of  our  household  equipment,  from 
soup  plates  to  the  humblest  "  crockery  "  of  the  family 
supply,  bore  the  same  tasteful  decoration.  Many  a 
time  we  have  laughed  at  the  incongruity  between 
our  surroundings  and  the  culinary  panorama  that 
Stathi  conjured  up  from  his  primitive  kitchen  out- 
side and  served  with  such  elegance.  It  was  a  master- 
piece of  the  chef's  art,  six  courses  following  each 
other  in  rapid  succession,  all  produced  in  the  narrow 
oven  where  a  charcoal  fire  blazed  in  answer  to  the 
energetic  fanning  of  a  corn  broom.  Soup  gave  place 
to  macaroni ;  macaroni  to  lamb  chops  and  green 
peas ;  chickens  followed,  flanked  by  beans  and  new 
potatoes  from  the  gardens  of  the  neighborhood  ;  Ger- 
man pancakes  wound  up  the  repast ;  and  cofTee  was 
served  in  an  adjoining  coffee-house  afterward  —  the 
whole  accompanied  by  copious  draughts  of  the  wa- 
ter of  Andros,  which  cheers  without  inebriating,  and 
beakers  of  the  red  wine  of  Solon,  which  I  suspect 
is  capable  of  doing  both.  A  very  modern-looking  oil 
lamp  helped  furnish  heat  as  well  as  light,  for  we  were 
high  above  the  sea  and  the  night  was  chilly.  Even  to 
this  remote  district  the  product  of  the  Rockefeller  in- 


222     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

dustry  has  penetrated,  and  no  sight  is  more  common 
than  the  characteristic  square  oil  cans,  with  a  wooden 
bar  across  the  centre  for  carrying,  which  the  peasants 
use  for  water  buckets  when  the  original  oil  is  ex- 
hausted. They  are  useful,  of  course  —  more  so  than 
the  old-fashioned  earthen  amphorae.  But  they  are 
not  as  picturesque. 

My  companion,  whom  it  will  be  convenient  to  call 
the  Professor,  and  I  adjourned  to  the  cofEee-house 
below  for  our  after-dinner  smoke,  and  demanded  coffee 
in  our  best  modern  Greek,  only  to  evoke  the  hearty 
response,  "  Sure,"  from  our  host.  It  seemed  he  had 
lived  in  New  York,  where  he  maintained  an  oyster 
bar  ;  and,  like  all  who  have  ever  tasted  the  joys  of 
Bowery  life,  he  could  not  be  happy  anywhere  else, 
but  yearned  to  hear  the  latest  news  from  that  land  of 
his  heart's  desire.  We  tarried  long  over  our  cups, 
and  had  to  force  payment  on  him.  Thence  we  retired 
through  the  low-browed  arch  that  led  to  our  abode, 
barred  and  locked  it  with  ponderous  fastenings  that 
might  have  graced  the  Lion  Gate  itself,  and  lay  down 
to  repose  on  our  collapsible  beds,  which  happily  did 
not  collapse  until  Spyros  and  Stathi  prepared  them 
for  the  next  day's  ride.  This  they  did  while  we  break- 
fasted. The  morning  meal  came  into  the  bedrooms 
bodily  on  a  table  propelled  by  our  faithful  servitors, 
the  food  having  been  prepared  outside ;  and  as  we 


I 


IN  ARCADIA  223 

ate,  the  chamber  work  progressed  merrily  at  our  table 
side,  so  that  in  short  order  we  were  ready  for  the  road. 
The  carriage  for  the  journey  stood  without  the  main 
gate,  manned  by  a  dangerous-looking  but  actually 
affable  native,  and  behind  it  lay  a  spring  cart  of  two 
wheels,  wherein  were  disposed  our  beds,  cooking 
utensils,  and  other  impedimenta.  The  word  of  com- 
mand was  given,  and  the  caravan  set  out  blithely  for 
the  western  mountains,  bowed  out  of  town  by  the 
beaming  face  of  the  man  who  had  kept  an  oyster  bar. 
The  road  had  an  easy  time  of  it  for  many  a  level 
mile.  It  ran  through  a  fertile  plain,  watered  by 
the  sources  of  the  famous  Alpheios  River,  which  we 
skirted  for  hours,  the  hills  steadily  converging  upon 
us  until  at  last  they  formed  a  narrow  gorge  through 
which  the  river  forced  its  way,  brawling  over  rocks, 
to  the  Elian  plains  beyond.  Beside  the  way  was  an 
old  and  dismantled  winepress,  which  we  alighted 
long  enough  to  visit.  Disused  as  it  was,  it  was  easy 
to  imagine  the  barefooted  maidens  of  the  neighbor- 
hood treading  out  the  juices  of  the  grapes  in  the 
upper  loft,  the  liquid  flowing  down  through  the  loose 
flooring  into  the  vats  beneath.  It  is  the  poetic  way  of 
preparing  wine ;  but  having  seen  one  night  of  peasant 
life  already,  we  were  forced  to  admit  that  modern 
methods  of  extracting  the  juice  seem  rather  to  be 
preferred. 


224    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Just  ahead  lay  the  gateway  of  Arcadia,  guarded 
by  a  conspicuous  conical  hill  set  in  the  midst  of  the 
narrowing  plain  between  two  mountain  chains  and 
bearing  aloft  a  red-roofed  town  named  Karytaena. 
Time  was  too  brief  and  the  sun  too  hot  to  permit  us 
to  ascend  thereto,  but  even  from  the  highway  below  it 
proved  an  immensely  attractive  place,  recalling  the 
famous  hill  towns  of  Italy.  Behind  it  lay  the  broad- 
ening plain  of  Megalopolis  and  before  the  narrow 
ravine  of  the  Alpheios,  walled  in  by  two  mighty  hills. 
Karytaena  seems  like  an  inland  Gibraltar,  and  must 
in  the  old  days  have  been  an  almost  impregnable 
defense  of  the  Arcadian  country  on  its  western  side, 
set  as  it  is  in  the  very  centre  of  a  constricted  pass. 
But  for  some  reason,  possibly  because  the  enemies 
of  Greece  came  chiefly  from  the  east,  it  seems  not 
to  have  figured  prominently  as  a  fortress  in  history. 
Below  the  town  the  road  wound  down  to  the  river's 
edge  and  crossed  the  stream  on  a  quaint  six-arched 
bridge,  against  one  pier  of  which  some  thankful  per- 
sons had  erected  a  shrine  of  Our  Lady.  And  beyond 
the  road  began  a  steady  ascent.  We  had  left  the 
plain  for  good,  it  appeared.  Before  us  lay  the  deep 
and  tortuous  defile  through  which  the  river  flows  to 
the  western  seas,  the  roar  of  its  rushing  waters  grow- 
ing fainter  and  fainter  below  as  the  panting  horses 
clambered  upward  with  their  burdens,  until  at  last 


AN    OUTPOST    OF    ARC  AD  V 


IN  ARCADIA  225 

only  a  confused  murmuring  of  the  river  was  heard 
mingling  with  the  rustle  of  the  wind  through  the 
leaves  of  the  wayside  trees.  The  road  was  not  pro- 
^'ided  with  parapets  save  in  a  few  unusually  danger- 
ous corners,  and  the  thought  of  a  plunge  down  that 
steep  incline  to  the  river  so  far  below  was  not  at  all 
pleasant.  Fortunately  on  only  one  occasion  did  we 
meet  another  wagon,  and  on  that  one  occasion  our 
party  incontinently  dismounted  and  watched  the  care- 
ful passage  of  the  two  with  mingled  feelings.  It  was 
accomplished  safely  and  easily  enough,  but  we  felt 
much  more  comfortable  to  be  on  the  ground  and  see 
the  wheels  graze  the  edge  of  the  unprotected  outside 
rim  of  the  highway. 

Every  now  and  then  a  cross  ravine  demanded  an 
abrupt  descent  of  the  road  from  its  airy  height,  and 
down  we  would  go  to  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  valley, 
the  driver  unconcernedly  cracking  his  whip,  the  bells 
of  our  steeds  jangling  merrily,  and  our  party  hang- 
ing on  and  trying  hard  to  enjoy  the  view  in  a  nervous 
and  apprehensive  way,  although  increasingly  mind- 
ful of  the  exposed  right-hand  edge  of  the  shelf.  It 
bothered  Stathi,  the  cook,  not  at  all.  He  was  riding 
behind  on  the  baggage  cart  which  followed  steadily 
after,  and  at  the  steepest  of  the  descent  he  was  sway- 
ing from  side  to  side  on  the  narrow  seat,  his  cigar- 
ette hanging  neglected  from  his  lips  —  sound  asleep. 


226    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

These  occasional  ravines  appeared  to  be  due  to 
centuries  of  water  action,  and  their  banks,  which  were 
well  covered  with  woods,  were  marked  here  and  there 
by  tiny  threads  of  cascades  which  sang  pleasantly 
down  the  cliffs  from  above,  crossed  the  road,  and  dis- 
appeared into  the  wooded  depths  of  the  river  valley 
below.  Baedeker  had  mentioned  a  huge  plane  tree 
and  a  gushing  spring  of  water  as  a  desirable  place 
to  lunch,  but  we  looked  for  them  in  vain.  Instead  we 
took  our  midday  meal  beside  a  stone  khan  lying 
deserted  by  the  roadside,  in  which  on  the  open  hearth 
Stathi  kindled  a  fire  and  produced  another  of  his 
culinary  miracles,  which  we  ate  in  the  open  air  by 
the  road,  under  a  plane  tree  that  was  anything  but 
gigantic.  We  have  never  quite  forgiven  Baedeker  that 
"  gushing  spring."  When  one  has  lived  for  a  month 
or  more  on  bottled  waters,  the  expectation  of  drink- 
ing at  nature's  fount  is  not  lightly  to  be  regarded. 

The  remainder  of  the  ride  was  a  steady  climb  to 
Andhritsaena,  varied  by  few  descents,  although  this 
is  hardly  to  be  deemed  a  drawback.  The  knowledge 
that  one  has  two  thousand  feet  to  climb  before  the 
goal  is  reached  does  not  conduce  to  welcome  of  a 
sudden  loss  of  all  the  height  one  has  by  an  hour's  hard 
climb  attained.  The  tedium  of  the  hours  of  riding  was 
easily  broken  by  descending  to  walk,  the  better  thus 
to  enjoy  the  view  which  slowly  opened  out  to  the 


IN  ARCADIA  227 

westward.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  the  mountains  of 
the  Peloponnesus  now,  and  they  billowed  all  around. 
It  was  a  deserted  country.  Distant  sheep  bells  and 
occasional  pipes  testified  that  there  was  life  some- 
where near,  but  the  only  person  we  met  was  a  woman 
who  came  down  from  a  hill  to  ask  the  driver  to  get 
a  doctor  for  her  sick  son  when  he  should  reach 
Andhritsaena.  At  last,  well  toward  evening,  the  drivers 
pointed  to  a  narrow  cut  in  the  top  of  the  hill  which 
we  were  slowly  ascending  by  long  sweeping  turns  of 
road  and  announced  the  top  of  the  pass.  And  the 
view  that  greeted  us  as  we  entered  the  defile  was  one 
not  easy  to  forget.  Through  the  narrow  passage  in 
the  summit  lay  a  new  and  different  country,  and  in 
the  midst  of  it,  nestling  against  the  mountain-side,  lay 
Andhritsaena,  red  roofed  and  white  walled,  and  punc- 
tuated here  and  there  by  pointed  cypress  trees.  Below 
the  town,  the  hills  swept  sharply  away  to  the  valleys 
beneath,  filled  with  green  trees,  while  above  the  rocks 
of  the  mountain-side  rose  steeply  toward  the  even- 
ing sky.  In  the  western  distance  we  saw  for  the  first 
time  Erymanthus  and  his  gigantic  neighbors,  the 
mountains  that  hem  in  the  plain  about  Olympia, 
the  taller  ones  snow-clad  and  capped  with  evening 
clouds.  We  straightened  in  our  seats.  Stathi  came 
out  of  his  doze.  The  whips  cracked  and  we  dashed 
into  the  town  with  the  smartness  of  gait  and  poise 


228     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

that  seem  to  be  demanded  by  every  arrival  of  coach 
and  four  from  Greece  to  Seattle.  And  thus  they 
deposited  us  in  the  main  square  of  Andhritsaena, 
under  a  huge  plane  tree,  whose  branches  swept  over 
the  entire  village  street,  and  whose  trunk  lost  itself  in 
the  buildings  at  its  side.  The  carriage  labored  away. 
The  dragoman  and  his  faithful  attendant  sought  our 
lodging  house  to  set  it  in  order.  And  in  the  mean- 
time we  stretched  our  cramped  limbs  in  a  walk 
around  the  town,  attended  as  usual  by  the  entire  idle 
population  of  youths  and  maidens,  to  see  the  village 
from  end  to  end  before  the  sun  went  down. 

I  should,  perhaps,  add  the  remark  that  in  my 
spelling  of  *'  Andhritsaena "  I  have  done  conscious 
violence  to  the  word  as  it  stands  on  the  map  —  the 
added  "h"  representing  a  possibly  needless  attempt 
to  give  the  local  pronunciation  of  the  name.  It  is 
accented  on  the  second  syllable. 


CHAPTER   XII.     ANDHRITS^NA  AND 
THE   BASS^   TEMPLE 


WE  found  the  village  of  Andhritsaena  fascinat- 
ing in  the  extreme,  from  within  as  well  as  from 
without.  It  was  obviously  afflicted  with  a  degree  of 
poverty,  and  suffers,  like  most  Peloponnesian  towns, 
from  a  steady  drain  on  its  population  by  the  emigra- 
tion to  America.  Naturally  it  was  squalid,  as  Mega- 
lopolis had  been,  but  in  a  way  that  did  not  mar  the 
natural  beauty  of  its  situation,  and,  if  anything,  in- 
creased its  internal  picturesqueness.  This  we  had 
abundant  opportunity  to  observe  during  our  initial 
ramble  through  the  place,  starting  from  the  gigantic 
plane  tree  which  forms  a  sort  of  nucleus  of  the  entire 
village,  and  which  shelters  with  its  spreading  branches 
the  chief  centre  of  local  activity, — the  region  imme- 
diately adjacent  to  the  town  pump.  It  was  not  exactly 
a  pump,  however.  The  term  is  merely  conventional, 
and  one  must  understand  by  it  a  stone  fountain,  fed 
by  a  spring,  the  water  gushing  out  by  means  of  two 


I 


230    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

spouts,  whither  an  almost  continuous  stream  of  towns- 
folk came  with  the  inevitable  tin  oil-cans  to  obtain 
water  for  domestic  uses. 

The  main,  and  practically  the  only,  street  of  the 
town  led  westward  from  the  plane,  wdnding  along 
through  the  village  in  an  amiable  and  casual  way.  It 
was  lined  close  on  either  side  by  the  houses,  which 
were  generally  two  stories  in  height,  and  provided 
with  latticed  balconies  above  to  make  up  for  the 
necessary  lack  of  piazzas  below.  Close  to  the  great 
central  tree  these  balconies  seemed  almost  like  the 
arboreal  habitation  made  dear  to  the  childish  heart 
by  the  immortal  Swiss  Family  Robinson ;  and  in  these 
elevated  stations  the  families  of  Andhritsaena  were 
disporting  themselves  after  the  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day,  gossiping  affably  to  and  fro  across  the  street, 
or  in  some  cases  reading. 

We  found  it  as  impossible  to  disperse  our  body 
guard  of  boys  and  girls  as  had  been  the  case  the 
evening  before  at  Megalopolis.  Foreign  visitors  in 
Andhritsaena  are  few  enough  to  be  objects  of  uni- 
versal but  not  unkindly  curiosity  to  young  and  old ; 
and  the  young,  being  unfettered  by  the  insistent  de- 
mands of  coffee-drinking,  promptly  insisted  on  at- 
tending our  pilgrimage  en  masse.  It  was  cool,  for  the 
sun  was  low  and  the  mountain  air  had  begun  to  take 
on  the  chill  of  evening.  We  clambered  up  to  a  lofty 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE     231 

knoll  over  the  town  and  looked  down  over  its  slant- 
ing tiles  to  the  wooded  valley  beneath,  the  evening 
smoke  of  the  chimneys  rising  straight  up  in  thin, 
curling  wisps,  while  from  the  neighboring  hills  came 
the  faint  clatter  of  the  herd  bells  and  occasionally  the 
soft  note  of  some  boy's  piping.  Far  away  to  the  north 
we  could  see  the  snowy  dome  of  Erymanthus,  rising 
out  of  a  tumbling  mass  of  blue  mountains,  while  be- 
tween lay  the  opening  and  level  plain  of  the  Alpheios, 
widening  from  its  narrows  to  form  the  broad  meadows 
of  Elis  on  the  western  coasts  of  the  Peloponnesus. 
Here  and  there  the  house  of  some  local  magnate, 
more  prosperous  than  the  rest,  boasted  a  small  yard 
and  garden,  adorned  with  the  sombre  straightness  of 
cypresses.  Behind  the  town  rose  the  rocky  heights 
of  the  neighboring  hills,  long  gorges  running  deep 
among  them.  Whichever  way  the  eye  turned,  there 
was  charm.  The  body  guard  of  infantry  retired  to  a 
respectful  distance  and  stood  watching  us,  finger  bash- 
fully to  mouth  in  silent  wonderment.  Mothers  with 
babies  came  out  of  near-by  hovels  to  inspect  us,  and 
enjoyed  us  as  much  as  we  enjoyed  the  prospect  that 
opened  before. 

From  the  aspect  of  the  houses  of  the  town  we  had 
adjudged  it  prudent  to  allow  Spyros  and  Stathi  a 
decent  interval  for  the  preparation  of  our  abode  be- 
fore descending  to  the  main  street  again  and  seeking 


232    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

out  the  house.  Apparently  the  exact  location  of  it 
was  known  by  the  entire  population  by  this  time, 
for,  as  we  descended,  willing  natives  pointed  the  way 
by  gesticulations,  indicating  a  narrow  and  not  en- 
tirely prepossessing  alley  leading  down  from  the 
central  thoroughfare  by  some  rather  slimy  steps,  to 
a  sort  of  second  street,  and  thence  to  another  alley, 
if  anything  less  prepossessing  than  the  first,  where  a 
formidable  wooden  gateway  gave  entrance  to  a  court. 
Here  the  merry  villagers  bade  adieu  and  retired  to 
their  coffee  again.  Once  within,  the  prospect  bright- 
ened. It  was,  of  course,  the  fore-court  of  a  peasant's 
house,  for  hotels  are  entirely  lacking  in  Andhritssena. 
It  was  paved  with  stone  flagging,  and  above  the 
courtyard  rose  a  substantial  veranda  on  which  stood 
the  host  —  a  bearded  man,  gorgeous  in  native  dress, 
the  voluminous  skirt  of  which  was  immaculate  in  its 
yards  and  yards  of  fustanella.  From  tasseled  fez  to 
pomponed  shoes  he  was  a  fine  type  of  peasant,  con- 
trasting with  his  wife,  who  wore  unnoticeable  clothes 
of  European  kind.  She  was  a  pleasant-faced  little 
body,  and  evidently  neat,  which  was  more  than  all. 
And  she  ushered  us  into  the  house  to  the  rooms 
where  Spyros  and  the  cook  were  busily  engaged  in 
making  up  the  beds,  discreetly  powdering  the  mat- 
tresses, and  setting  things  generally  to  rights.  The 
embroidered  bed  linen  which  had  given  us  such  de- 


ANDHRITStENA  and  BASS^  temple     233 

light  by  its  contrast  witli  tlie  surroundings  at  Mega- 
lopolis at  once  caught  the  eye  of  the  peasant  woman, 
and  she  promptly  borrowed  a  pillow-case  to  learn  the 
stitch  with  which  it  was  adorned.  As  for  the  rooms, 
they  were  scrubbed  to  a  whiteness. 

Just  outside,  overlooking  the  narrow  by-way 
through  which  we  had  entered,  was  the  inevitable 
balcony,  whence  the  view  off  to  the  northern  mountains 
was  uninterrupted ;  and  while  supper  was  preparing 
we  wrapped  ourselves  in  sweaters  and  shawls  and 
stood  in  mute  admiration  of  the  prospect  —  the  deep 
valley  below,  the  half-guessed  plain  beyond,  and  the 
rugged  line  of  peaks  silhouetted  against  the  golden 
afterglow  of  the  sunset.  From  this  view  our  attention 
was  distracted  only  by  the  sudden  clamor  of  a  church 
bell  close  at  hand,  which  a  priest  was  insistently  ring- 
ing for  vespers.  The  bell  was  hung,  as  so  often  hap- 
pens, in  a  tree  beside  the  church ;  and  to  prevent  the 
unauthorized  sounding  of  it  by  the  neighborhood 
urchins  the  wise  priest  had  caused  the  bell-rope  to 
be  shortened  so  that  the  end  of  it  hung  far  up  among 
the  branches,  and  was  only  to  be  reached  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  church  by  a  long  iron  poker,  which  the 
holy  man  had  produced  from  somewhere  within  his 
sanctuary  and  which  he  was  wielding  vigorously  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  devout.  It  may  have  been 
a  sort  of  Greek  angelus,  designed  to  mark  the  hour 


234    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  general  sunset  prayer ;  for  nobody  appeared  in  re- 
sponse to  its  summons,  and  after  clanging  away  for 
what  seemed  to  him  a  sufficient  interval  the  priest 
unshipped  the  poker  and  retired  with  it  to  the  inner 
recesses  of  the  church,  to  be  seen  no  more.  The 
nipping  and  eager  evening  air  likewise  drove  us  to 
shelter,  and  the  heat  of  the  lamp  and  candles  was 
welcome  as  lessening,  though  ever  so  slightly,  the 
cold  which  the  night  had  brought.  It  was  further 
temporarily  forgotten  in  the  discussion  of  the  smil- 
ing Stathi's  soups  and  chickens  and  flagons  of 
Solon. 

The  professor  and  I  stumbled  out  in  the  darkness 
of  the  yard  after  the  evening  meal  in  search  of  a 
coffee-house,  for  the  better  enjoyment  of  our  post- 
prandial cigarettes,  but  we  got  no  farther  than  the 
outer  court  before  deciding  to  return  for  a  lantern. 
Andhritsaena  turned  out  to  be  not  only  chilly,  but  in- 
tensely dark  o'  nights.  Its  serpentine  by-ways  were 
devoid  of  a  single  ray  of  light,  and  even  the  main 
street,  when  we  had  found  it,  was  relieved  from  utter 
gloom  only  by  the  lamps  which  glimmered  few  and 
faint  in  wayside  shops  that  had  not  yet  felt  the  force 
of  the  early-closing  movement.  The  few  wayfarers 
that  we  met  as  we  groped  our  way  along  by  the  in- 
effectual fire  of  a  square  lantern,  wherein  a  diminu- 
tive candle  furnished  the  illuminant,  likewise  carried 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE     235 

similar  lights,  and  looked  terrible  enough  hooded  in 
their  capotes.  Diogenes-like,  we  sought  an  honest 
man,  —  and  speedily  discovered  him  in  the  proprietor 
of  a  tiny  "kaffeneion,"  who  welcomed  us  to  his  tables 
and  set  before  us  cups  of  thick  coffee,  fervently  dis- 
claiming the  while  his  intention  to  accept  remunera- 
tion therefor.  Indeed  this  generosity  bade  fair  to  be 
its  own  reward,  for  it  apparently  became  known  in  a 
surprisingly  short  time  that  the  foreign  visitors  were 
taking  refreshment  in  that  particular  inn,  with  the 
result  that  patronage  became  brisk.  The  patrons, 
however,  apparently  cared  less  for  their  coffee  than 
for  the  chance  to  study  the  newcomers  in  their  midst 
at  close  range,  and  after  we  had  basked  for  a  suffi- 
cient time  in  the  affable  curiosity  of  the  assembled 
multitude  we  stumbled  off  again  through  the  night 
to  our  abode,  the  lantern  casting  gigantic  and  awful 
shadows  on  the  wayside  walls  the  while. 

Now  the  chief  reason  for  our  visiting  this  quaint 
and  out-of-the-way  hamlet  was  its  contiguity  to  the 
mountain  on  the  flat  top  of  which  stands  the  ancient 
Bassse  temple.  The  correct  designation,  I  believe,  is 
really  the  "temple  at  Bassae,"  but  to-day  it  stands 
isolated  and  alone,  with  no  considerable  habitation 
nearer  than  Andhritssena,  whatever  was  the  case  when 
it  was  erected.  The  evidence  tended  to  show  that 
Bassae  might  be  reached  with  about  the  same  ease 


'236     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

on  foot  as  on  horseback,  or  at  least  in  about  the 
same  time ;  but  as  we  were  entirely  without  experience 
in  riding,  it  was  voted  best  that  we  begin  our  train- 
ing by  securing  steeds  for  this  minor  side  trip,  in 
order  to  have  some  slight  preparation  for  the  twelve 
hours  in  the  saddle  promised  us  for  the  day  following 
—  a  portentous  promise  that  had  cast  a  sort  of  in- 
definite shadow  of  apprehension  over  our  inmost  souls 
since  leaving  Nauplia.  It  was  a  wise  choice,  too,  be- 
cause it  revealed  to  us  among  other  things  the  difif:- 
culty  of  Greek  mountain  trails  and  the  almost  absolute 
sure-footedness  of  the  mountain  horse. 

We  were  in  the  saddle  promptly  at  nine,  and  in 
Indian  file  we  set  out  through  the  village  street,  filled 
with  the  tremors  natural  to  those  who  find  themselves 
for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  seated  on  horseback. 
But  these  tremors  were  as  nothing  to  what  beset  us 
almost  immediately  on  leaving  the  town  and  striking 
into  the  narrow  ravine  that  led  up  into  the  hills  behind 
it.  It  developed  that  while  the  prevailing  tendency  of 
the  road  was  upward,  this  did  not  by  any  means  pre- 
clude several  incidental  dips,  remarkable  alike  for 
their  appalling  steepness  and  terrifying  rockiness, 
for  which  their  comparative  brevity  only  partially 
atoned.  The  sensation  of  looking  down  from  the 
back  of  even  a  small  horse  into  a  gully  as  steep  as  a 
sharp  pitch  roof,  down  which  the  trail  is  nothing  but 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE    237 

the  path  of  a  dried-up  torrent  filled  with  boulders, 
loose  stones,  smooth  ledges,  sand,  and  gravel,  is  any- 
thing but  reassuring.  It  was  with  silent  misgivings 
and  occasional  squeals  of  alarm  that  our  party  en- 
countered the  first  of  these  descents.  We  had  not  yet 
learned  to  trust  our  mounts,  and  we  did  not  know  that 
the  well-trained  mountain  horse  is  a  good  deal  more 
likely  to  stumble  on  a  level  road  than  on  one  of  those 
perilous  downward  pitches.  From  the  lofty  perches  on 
top  of  the  clumsy  Greek  saddles  piled  high  with  rugs, 
it  seemed  a  terrifying  distance  to  the  ground ;  and 
the  thought  of  a  header  into  the  rocky  depth  along 
the  side  of  which  the  path  skirted  or  down  into  which 
it  plunged  was  not  lightly  to  be  shaken  off.  It  was 
much  better  going  up  grade,  although  even  here  we 
found  ourselves  smitten  with  pity  for  the  little  beasts 
that  scrambled  with  so  much  agility  up  cruel  steeps  of 
rock,  bearing  such  appreciable  burdens  of  well-nour- 
ished Americans  on  their  backs.  Spyros  did  his  best  to 
reassure  us.  He  was  riding  ahead  and  throwing  what 
were  intended  as  comforting  remarks  over  his  shoul- 
der to  Mrs.  Professor,  who  rode  next  in  line.  And  as 
he  was  not  aware  of  the  exact  make-up  of  the  party's 
mounts,  he  finally  volunteered  the  opinion  that  horses 
were  a  good  deal  safer  than  mules  for  such  a  trip,  be- 
cause mules  stumbled  so.  Whereupon  Mrs,  Professor, 
who  was  riding  on  a  particularly  wayward  and  moun- 


238     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

tainous  mule,  emitted  a  shriek  of  alarm  and  descended 
with  amazing  alacrity  to  the  ground,  vowing  that 
walking  to  Bassae  was  amply  good  enough  for  her. 
Nevertheless  the  mule,  although  he  did  stumble  a 
little  now  and  then,  managed  to  stay  with  us  all  the 
way  to  Olympia,  and  no  mishap  occurred. 

The  saddles  lend  themselves  to  riding  either 
astride  or  sidesaddle,  and  the  ordinary  man  we  met 
seemed  to  prefer  the  latter  mode.  The  saddle  frame 
is  something  the  shape  of  a  sawhorse,  and  after  it 
is  set  on  the  back  of  the  beast  it  is  piled  high  with 
blankets,  rugs,  and  the  like,  making  a  lofty  but  fairly 
comfortable  seat.  For  the  ladies  the  guides  had 
devised  little  wooden  swings  suspended  by  rope  to 
serve  as  stirrups  for  the  repose  of  their  soles.  The 
arrangement  was  announced  to  be  comfortable 
enough,  although  it  was  necessary  for  the  riders  to 
hold  on  fore  and  aft  to  the  saddle  with  both  hands, 
while  a  muleteer  went  ahead  and  led  the  beasts.  In 
some  of  the  steeper  places  the  maintenance  of  a  seat 
under  these  conditions  required  no  little  skill.  As  for 
the  men,  there  were  no  special  muleteers.  We  were 
supposed  to  know  how  to  ride,  and  in  a  short  time 
we  had  discovered  how  to  guide  the  horses  with  the 
single  rein  provided,  either  by  pulling  it,  or  by  press- 
ing it  across  the  horse's  neck.  To  stop  the  modern 
Greek  horse  you  whistle.  That  is  to  say,  you  whistle 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE     239 

if  you  can  muster  a  whistle  at  all,  which  is  some- 
times difficult  when  a  panic  seizes  you  and  your 
mouth  becomes  dry  and  intractable.  In  the  main 
our  progress  was  so  moderate  that  no  more  skill  was 
needed  to  ride  or  guide  the  steeds  than  would  be 
required  on  a  handcar.  Only  on  rare  occasions,  when 
some  of  the  beasts  got  off  the  track  or  fell  behind, 
was  any  real  acquaintance  with  Greek  horsemanship 
required.  This  happened  to  all  of  us  in  turn  before 
we  got  home  again,  and  in  each  case  the  muleteers 
came  to  our  aid  in  due  season  after  we  had  com- 
pletely lost  all  recollection  of  the  proper  procedure 
for  stopping  and  were  seeking  to  accomplish  it  by 
loud  "  whoas  "  instead  of  the  soothing  sibilant  which 
is  the  modern  Greek  equivalent  for  that  useful,  and 
indeed  necessary,  word. 

We  found  it  highly  desirable  now  and  then  to  alight 
and  walk,  for  to  the  unaccustomed  rider  the  strain  of 
sitting  in  a  cramped  position  on  a  horse  for  hours  at 
a  time  is  wearying  and  benumbing  to  the  lower  limbs. 
On  the  ride  up  to  Bassae,  those  who  did  no  walking 
at  all  found  it  decidedly  difficult  to  walk  when  they 
arrived.  The  one  deterrent  was  the  labor  involved  in 
dismounting  and  the  prospective  difficulty  of  getting 
aboard  again.  In  this  operation  the  muleteers  assisted 
our  clumsiness  not  a  little,  and  we  discovered  that 
the  way  to  attract  their  attention  to  a  desire  to  alight 


240    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

was   to  say  "ka-to, "  in  a  commanding  tone  —  the 
same  being  equivalent  to  "  down." 

So  much  for  our  experiences  as  we  wound  along 
the  sides  of  rocky  ravines  and  gorges  in  the  heart  of 
the  hills  behind  Andhritssena.  When  we  had  grown 
accustomed  to  the  manipulation  of  the  horses  and  had 
learned  that  the  beasts  really  would  not  fall  down  and 
dash  us  into  the  depths  below,  we  began  to  enjoy  the 
scenery.  It  was  rugged,  for  the  most  part,  although 
at  the  bottoms  of  the  valleys  there  was  frequently 
meadow  land  spangled  with  innumerable  wildflowers 
and  shrubbery,  watered  by  an  occasional  brook.  It 
was  a  lovely  morning,  still  cool  and  yet  cloudless.  The 
birds  twittered  among  the  stunted  trees.  We  passed 
from  narrow  vale  to  narrow  vale,  and  at  last,  when 
no  outlet  was  to  be  seen,  we  ceased  to  descend  and 
began  a  steady  climb  out  of  the  shady  undergrowth 
along  the  side  of  a  rocky  mountain,  where  there  was 
no  wood  at  all  save  for  scattered  groves  of  pollard 
oaks  —  curious  old  trees,  low  and  gnarled,  covered 
with  odd  bunches,  and  bearing  an  occasional  wreath 
of  mistletoe.  At  the  ends  of  their  branches  the  trees 
put  forth  handfuls  of  small  twigs,  which  we  were 
told  the  inhabitants  are  accustomed  to  lop  off  for 
fagots.  It  is  evident  that  the  trees  do  not  get  half  a 
chance  to  live  and  thrive.  But  they  manage  in  some 
way  to  prolong  their  existence,  and  they  give  to  the 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE    241 

region  at  Bassse  and  to  the  temple  there  a  certain 
weird  charm. 

Off  to  the  west  as  we  climbed  there  appeared  a 
shining  streak  of  silver  which  the  guides  saw  and 
pointed  to,  shouting  "Thalassa!  Thalassa!"  (the 
sea).  And,  indeed,  it  was  the  first  glimpse  of  the 
ocean  west  of  Greece.  Shortly  beyond  we  attained 
the  summit  and  began  a  gentle  descent  along  a  sort 
of  tableland  through  a  sparse  grove  of  the  stunted 
oaks,  among  which  here  and  there  appeared  round 
flat  floors  of  stone  used  for  threshing.  Many  of  these 
could  be  seen  on  the  adjacent  hills  and  in  the  valleys, 
and  the  number  visible  at  one  time  proved  to  be 
something  like  a  score.  All  at  once,  as  we  wound 
slowly  down  through  the  avenue  of  oaks,  the  temple 
itself  burst  unexpectedly  into  view,  gray  like  the  sur- 
rounding rocks,  from  which,  indeed,  it  was  built.  To 
approach  a  shrine  like  this  from  above  is  not  com- 
mon in  Greece,  and  this  sudden  apparition  of  the 
temple,  which  is  admirably  preserved,  seem.s  to  have 
struck  every  visitor  who  has  described  it  as  exceed- 
ingly beautiful,  particularly  as  one  sees  it  framed  in 
a  foreground  of  these  odd  trees.  We  were  high 
enough  above  the  structure  to  look  down  into  it,  for 
it  is  of  course  devoid  of  any  roof ;  and  unlike  most 
of  the  other  temples,  it  was  always  so,  for  it  was  of 
the  "  hypaethral "  type,  and  intended  to  be  open  to 


242     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  sky.  Nor  was  this  the  only  unusual  feature  of  the 
temple  at  Bassae.  It  was  peculiar  among  the  older 
shrines  in  that  it  ran  north  and  south  instead  of  east 
and  west,  which  was  the  regular  custom  among  the 
roofed  structures  of  the  Greeks.  Of  course  this  differ- 
ence in  orientation  has  given  rise  to  a  great  deal 
of  discussion  and  speculation  among  those  whose 
opinions  are  of  weight  in  such  matters.  Probably  the 
casual  visitor  in  Greece  is  well  aware  of  the  custom 
of  so  fixing  the  axes  of  temples  as  to  bring  the  east- 
ern door  directly  in  line  with  the  rising  sun  on  cer- 
tain appropriate  days,  for  the  better  illumination  of 
the  interior  on  those  festivals.  Although  such  expe- 
dients as  the  use  of  translucent  marble  roofs  were 
resorted  to,  the  lighting  of  the  interior  of  roofed  tem- 
ples was  always  a  matter  of  some  little  difficulty,  and 
this  arrangement  of  the  doorways  was  necessary  to 
bring  out  the  image  of  the  god  in  sufficiently  strong 
light.  From  this  system  of  orientation  it  has  occa- 
sionally been  possible  to  identify  certain  temples 
as  dedicated  to  particular  deities,  by  noting  the 
days  on  which  the  rising  sun  would  have  come  ex- 
actly opposite  the  axis  of  the  shrine.  No  such  con- 
sideration would  apply  with  the  same  force  to  a 
hypaethral  temple,  whatever  else  might  have  figured 
in  the  general  determination  of  the  orientation.  But 
even  at  Bassse,  where  the  length  of  the  temple  so 


ANDHRITS.ENA  AND  BASS^E  TEMPLE     243 

obviously  runs  north  and  south,  it  is  still  true  that 
one  opening  in  it  was  eastward,  and  it  is  supposed 
that  in  the  end  of  the  temple  space  was  an  older 
shrine  to  Apollo,  which,  like  other  temples,  faced  the 
rising  sun.  This  older  precinct  was  not  interfered 
with  in  erecting  the  greater  building,  and  it  is  still 
plainly  to  be  seen  where  the  original  sacred  precinct 
was. 

The  members  of  the  single  encircling  row  of  col- 
umns are  still  intact,  although  in  some  cases  slightly 
thrown  out  of  alignment ;  and  they  still  bear  almost 
the  entire  entablature.  The  cella  wall  within  is  also 
practically  intact,  and  inside  it  are  still  standing  large 
sections  of  the  unusual  engaged  half-columns  which 
encircled  the  cella,  standing  against  its  sides.  The  great 
frieze  in  bas-relief,  which  once  ran  around  the  top, 
facing  inward,  is  now  in  the  British  Museum,  where  it 
is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief  treasures  of  the 
Greek  collection.  It  hardly  needs  the  comment  that 
such  arrangement  of  the  frieze  was  highly  unusual, 
inside  the  building,  instead  of  on  the  outer  side  of 
the  cella,  as  was  the  case  in  the  Parthenon.  Ictinus, 
the  architect  of  the  Parthenon,  also  built  the  temple 
at  Bassse,  which  was  dedicated  by  the  Phigalians  to 
"  Apollo  the  Helper,"  in  gratification  for  relief  from  a 
plague.  That  fact  has  given  rise  to  the  conjecture  that 
it  was  perhaps  built  at  the  same  time  that  the  plague 


244     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

ravaged  Athens,  during  the  early  part  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  evidently 
true  that  it  belongs  to  the  same  golden  age  that  gave 
us  the  Parthenon  and  the  Propylsea  at  Athens.  Un- 
like them,  it  does  not  glow  with  the  varied  hues  of  the 
weathered  Pentelic  marble,  but  is  a  soft  gray,  due  to 
the  native  stone  of  which  it  was  constructed.  And  this 
gray  color,  contrasting  with  the  sombreness  of  the 
surrounding  grove,  gives  much  the  same  satisfactory 
effect  as  is  to  be  seen  at  ^gina,  where  the  temple  is 
seen,  like  this,  in  a  framework  of  trees. 

Needless  to  say,  the  outlook  from  this  lofty  site  — 
something  like  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  — 
is  grand.  The  ocean  is  visible  to  the  south  as  well  as 
to  the  west.  The  rolling  mountains  to  the  east  form 
an  imposing  pageant,  culminating  in  the  lofty  Tay- 
getos  range.  Looming  like  a  black  mound  in  the 
centre  of  the  middle  distance  to  the  southward  is  the 
imposing  and  isolated  acropolis  of  Ithome,  the  strong- 
hold of  the  ancient  Messenians.  As  usual,  the  builders 
of  the  temple  at  Bassse  selected  a  most  advantageous 
site  for  their  shrine.  It  was  while  we  were  enjoying 
the  view  after  lunch  that  a  solitary  German  appeared 
from  the  direction  of  Ithome,  having  passed  through 
the  modern  Phigalia.  He  had  a  boy  for  a  guide,  but 
aside  from  that  he  was  roaming  through  this  deserted 
section  of  Greece  alone.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  Ian- 


TEJVIPLE   AT    BASS^,    FROM   ABOVE 


TEMl'LE   AT    BASS.-E,    FROM    BELOW 


ANDHRITS^NA  AND  BASS^  TEMPLE     245 

guage.  He  had  no  dragoman  to  make  the  rough 
places  smooth.  He  had  spent  several  sorry  nights  in 
peasants'  huts,  where  vermin  most  did  congregate. 
But  he  was  enjoying  it  all  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
true  Philhellene,  and  on  the  whole  was  making  his 
way  about  surprisingly  well.  We  sat  and  chatted  for 
a  long  time  in  the  shade  of  the  temple,  comparing  it 
with  the  lonely  grandeur  of  the  temple  at  Segesta,  in 
Sicily.  And  as  the  sun  was  sinking  we  took  the  home- 
ward way  again,  but  content  to  walk  this  time  rather 
than  harrow  our  souls  by  riding  down  the  excessively 
steep  declivity  that  led  from  the  mountain  to  the 
valleys  below. 

At  dinner  that  night  in  Andhritsaena  an  old  man 
appeared  with  wares  to  sell  —  curiously  wrought  and 
barbaric  blankets,  saddlebags,  and  the  like,  appar- 
ently fresh  and  new,  but  really,  he  claimed,  the  dowry 
of  his  wife  who  had  long  been  dead.  He  had  no  fur- 
ther use  for  the  goods,  but  he  did  think  he  might 
find  uses  for  the  drachmae  they  would  bring.  Need- 
less to  say,  our  saddlebags  were  the  heavier  the  next 
day  when  our  pack-mules  were  loaded  for  the  journey 
over  the  hills  to  Olympia. 

One  other  thing  deserves  a  word  of  comment  be- 
fore we  leave  Andhritssena,  and  that  is  the  cemetery. 
We  had  seen  many  funeral  processions  at  Athens, 
carrying  the  uncoffined  dead  through  the  streets,  but 


246     GREECE  AND  THE  AEGEAN  ISLANDS 

we  had  never  paid  much  attention  to  the  burial  places, 
because  they  are  still  mainly  to  be  found  outside  the 
city  gates,  and  not  in  the  line  commonly  taken  by 
visitors.  At  Andhritsaena  we  came  upon  one,  how- 
ever, and  for  the  first  time  noticed  the  curious  little 
wooden  boxes  placed  at  the  heads  of  the  graves, 
resembling  more  than  anything  else  the  bird-houses 
that  humane  people  put  on  trees  at  home.  Inside  of 
the  boxes  we  found  oil  stains  and  occasionally  the 
remains  of  broken  lamps,  placed  there,  we  were  told, 
as  a  "mnemeion"  —  doubtless  meaning  a  memorial, 
which  word  is  a  direct  descendant.  The  lamps  appear 
to  be  kept  lighted  for  a  time  after  the  death  of  the  per- 
son thus  honored,  but  none  were  lighted  when  we  saw 
the  cemetery  of  Andhritsaena,  and  practically  all  had 
fallen  into  neglect,  as  if  the  dead  had  been  so  long 
away  that  grief  at  their  departure  had  been  forgotten. 
A  little  chapel  stood  hard  by,  and  on  its  wall  a  metal 
plate  and  a  heavy  iron  spike  did  duty  for  a  bell. 

Then  the  cold  night  settled  down  upon  Andhrit- 
saena, and  we  retired  to  the  warmth  of  our  narrow 
beds,  ready  for  the  summons  which  should  call  us 
forth  to  begin  our  fatiguing  ride  to  the  famous  site 
of  old  Olympia. 


CHAPTER  XIII.     OVER  THE  HILLS 
TO   OLYMPIA 


A' 


T  five  o'clock  the  persistent  thumping  of  Spyros 
on  the  bedroom  doors  announced  the  call  of 
incense-breathing  morn,  though  Phcebus  had  not  yet 
by  any  means  driven  his  horses  above  the  rim  of  the 
horizon.  The  air  outside  was  thick  o'  fog,  —  doubtless  a 
low-lying  cloud  settling  on  the  mountain,  —  and  it  was 
dark  and  cheerless  work  getting  out  of  our  narrow 
beds  and  dressing  in  the  cold  twilight.  Nevertheless 
it  was  necessary,  for  the  ride  to  Olympia  is  long,  and 
Spyros  had  promised  us  a  fatiguing  day,  with  twelve 
hours  in  the  saddle  as  a  minimum.  To  this  forecast 
the  pessimistic  Baedeker  lent  much  plausibility  by  his 
reference  to  the  road  as  being  unspeakably  bad  ;  and 
besides  we  ourselves  had  on  the  previous  day  gath- 
ered much  personal  experience  of  the  mountain  trails 
of  the  region.  Breakfast  under  these  circumstances 
was  a  rather  hasty  meal,  consumed  in  comparative 
silence. 


248     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

By  the  time  the  last  of  the  rolls  and  jam  had  dis- 
appeared and  the  task  of  furling  up  the  beds  was  well 
advanced,  a  clatter  of  hoofs  in  the  village  street  drew 
one  of  the  party  to  the  door,  whence  word  was  speed- 
ily returned  that  the  street  outside  was  full  of  horses. 
And  it  was.  There  were  ten  steeds,  including  four  for 
our  party,  two  for  Spyros  and  Stathi,  one  for  a  mule- 
teer relief  conveyance,  and  the  rest  for  the  baggage  — 
the  latter  being  small  and  seemingly  quite  inadequate 
burros  or  donkeys,  who  proved  more  notable  for  their 
patient  indifference  than  for  size  or  animation.  While 
these  were  being  laden,  four  other  beasts  drew  near, 
bearing  our  solitary  German  of  the  day  before  and 
another  of  his  countrymen  who  had  materialized  dur- 
ing the  night,  with  their  impedimenta.  They  were 
welcomed  to  the  caravan,  which,  numbering  fourteen 
beasts  and  almost  as  many  humans,  took  the  road  out 
of  town  with  commendable  promptitude  at  sharp  six 
o'clock.  The  cloud  had  lifted  as  we  rounded  the  west- 
ern edge  of  the  valley  and  looked  back  at  Andhrit- 
saena,  glimmering  in  the  morning  light.  We  were 
streaming  of!  in  Indian  file  along  a  very  excellent 
road,  like  that  on  which  we  had  ridden  up  from 
Megalopolis  two  days  before,  and  which  promised  well 
for  a  speedy  removal  of  the  apprehensions  awakened 
by  Baedeker.  But  the  road  did  not  last  long.  Before 
we  had  fairly  lost  Andhritsaena  in  the  hills  behind, 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA       249 

the  leading  guide  turned  sharply  to  the  left,  through 
a  rocky  defile  in  the  hillside,  and  precipitated  us  down 
one  of  those  rocky  torrent  beds,  with  the  nature  of 
which  we  had  become  only  too  familiar  the  day  be- 
fore. It  was  the  less  disturbing  this  time,  however, 
because  we  had  learned  to  trust  implicitly  to  the  care- 
ful feet  of  our  horses,  with  no  more  than  a  firm  grip 
on  bridle  and  pommel  and  an  occasional  soft  whistle, 
or  murmured  "  ochs',  ochs',"  to  the  intelligent  beasts 
as  an  outward  and  audible  sign  of  inward  and  spiritual 
perturbation.  It  was  steep  but  short,  and  we  came  out 
below  upon  the  road  again,  to  everybody's  uncon- 
cealed delight. 

The  road,  however,  soon  lost  itself  in  a  meadow. 
When  it  is  ultimately  finished,  the  journey  will  be 
much  easier  than  we  found  it.  In  a  few  years  I  sup- 
pose it  will  be  perfectly  possible  to  ride  to  Olympia 
in  a  carriage,  and  the  horseback  problem  will  cease 
to  deter  visitors  to  Bassae  from  continuing  their  jour- 
ney westward.  The  way  now  lay  along  a  pleasant 
and  rolling  meadow  country,  dotted  with  primitive 
farms,  which  glowed  under  the  bright  morning  sun. 
We  splashed  through  a  narrow  upland  river  and  up 
another  rocky  ascent,  beyond  which  another  down- 
ward pitch  carried  us  to  a  still  lower  meadow.  Mean- 
time the  cold  of  morning  gave  place  to  a  growing 
warmth,  and  the  wraps  became  saddle  blankets  in 


\ 


250     GREECE  AND  THE  .EGEAN  ISLANDS 

short  order.  We  rode  and  walked  alternately,  choos- 
ing the  level  stretches  through  the  grass  for  pedes- 
trianism  and  riding  only  when  we  came  to  sharp 
upward  climbs,  thus  easing  the  fatigue  that  we  should 
otherwise  have  found  in  continued  riding.  Always 
we  could  see  the  imposing  peaks  to  the  north,  and 
the  downward  tendency  of  the  trail  soon  brought  out 
the  altitude  of  the  hills  behind  Andhritssena.  The  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  our  path  was  pastoral  and  agri- 
cultural, in  the  main,  for  the  recurring  ridges  over 
which  we  scrambled  served  only  as  boundaries  be- 
tween well-watered  vales  in  which  small  trees  and 
bushes  flourished,  and  where  the  occasional  sharp 
whir  of  pressure  from  a  primitive  penstock  called 
attention  to  the  presence  of  a  water  mill.  Aside  from 
these  isolated  mills  there  was  little  sign  of  habitation, 
for  the  fields  seemed  mostly  grown  up  to  grass.  In 
the  far  distance  we  could  see  the  valley  of  the  Alpheios, 
broadening  out  of  its  confining  walls  of  rock  to  what 
seemed  like  a  sandy  reach  in  the  plain  far  below,  and 
we  were  told  that  at  nightfall  we  should  be  ferried 
across  it  close  to  Olympia,  provided  we  caught  the 
boatmen  before  they  left  for  home.  It  was  this  anxiety 
to  be  on  time  that  led  Spyros  to  urge  us  along,  lest 
when  we  came  out  at  the  bank  of  the  river  we  should 
find  no  response  to  the  ferryman's  call  of  "  Varka ! 
Varka  1 "  —  the  common  mode  of  hailing  boatmen  in 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA       251 

Greece.  With  this  for  a  spur  we  wasted  little  time  on 
the  way,  but  proceeded  steadily,  now  riding,  now 
walking,  up  hill  and  down  dale,  through  groves  of 
low  acacias  or  Judas  trees,  or  along  grassy  meadows 
where  a  profusion  of  wild  flowers  added  a  touch  of 
color  to  the  green. 

The  pleasant  valley,  however,  proved  not  to  be 
the  road  for  very  long.  In  an  hour  or  so  the  guides 
branched  off  again  into  a  range  of  hills  that  seemed 
as  high  as  those  we  had  left,  and  there  entered  a  tor- 
tuous ravine  worn  by  a  mountain  brook,  along  which 
the  path  wound  higher  and  higher  toward  a  distant 
house  which  the  muleteers  pointed  out  and  pro- 
nounced to  be  a  "  ^€1  oSoxeiov,"  —  the  Professor  had 
long  ago  learned  to  call  it  "  Senator  Sheehan,"  —  at 
which  wayside  inn  the  mistaken  impression  prevailed 
that  we  were  speedily  to  lunch.  It  was  not  so  to  be, 
however.  When  we  had  achieved  the  height  and 
rested  under  two  leafy  plane  trees  that  we  found 
there,  Sp5^ros  repeated  his  tale  about  the  ferrymen 
and  their  departure  at  sundown  ;  and  we  must  away 
at  once,  with  no  more  refreshment  than  was  to  be 
drawn  from  some  crackers  and  a  bottle  of  Solon. 
And  so  we  pressed  on  again,  still  climbing,  though 
more  gradually.  The  path  was  not  so  bad  after  all, 
despite  the  Baedeker,  and  in  one  place  we  voted  it 
easily  the  finest  spot  we  had  found  in  all  our  Pelo- 


252     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

ponnesian  rambles.  We  were  riding  along  at  the  time 
through  a  shady  grove  when  we  came  suddenly  upon 
a  collection  of  mammoth  planes,  whose  branches 
spread  far  and  wide,  and  from  the  midst  of  the  cleft 
side  of  one  of  them  a  spring  bubbled  forth  joyously, 
flooding  the  road.  It  was  here  that  the  king  on  one 
of  his  journeys  the  year  before  had  stopped  to  rest 
and  partake  of  his  noonday  meal.  It  seemed  to  us, 
famished  by  six  hours  of  hard  riding,  that  the  king's 
example  was  one  all  good  citizens  should  follow  ;  but 
Spyros  was  inexorable,  and  reminded  us  that  ferry- 
men might  wait  for  the  King  of  Greece,  but  not  for 
any  lesser  personages  whatsoever.  We  must  not  halt 
until  we  got  to  Gremka ;  for  at  Gremka  we  should 
find  a  good  road,  and  beyond  there  it  was  four  hours 
of  travel,  and  we  might  judge  exactly  how  much  time 
we  had  for  rest  by  the  hour  of  our  reaching  the  place. 
So  we  obediently  proceeded,  joined  now  by  two  more 
beasts  so  laden  with  the  empty  oil-cans  common  to 
the  region  that  only  their  legs  were  visible.  These 
furnished  the  comedy  element  in  the  day's  experi- 
ences, for  the  donkeys  thus  loaded  proved  to  be  con- 
trary little  creatures,  always  getting  off  the  trail  and 
careering  down  the  mountain-side  through  the  scrubby 
trees  and  bushes,  their  deck-loads  of  tin  making  a 
merry  din  as  they  crashed  through  the  underbrush, 
while  our  guides  roared  with  derisive  laughter  at  the 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      253 

discomfiture  of  the  harassed  attendants.  When  not 
engaged  in  ridiculing  the  owners  of  those  numerous 
and  troublesome  oil-cans,  the  muleteers  sang  anti- 
phonally  some  music  in  a  minor  key  which  Spyros 
said  was  a  wedding  song  wherein  the  bridegroom 
and  the  bride's  family  interchange  sentiments.  This 
seems  to  be  the  regular  diversion  of  muleteers,  judg- 
ing by  the  unanimity  with  which  travelers  in  Greece 
relate  the  experience.  Anon  our  muleteers  would  like- 
wise find  amusement  by  stealing  around  behind  and 
administering  an  unexpected  smack  on  the  plump 
buttocks  of  the  horses,  with  the  inevitable  result  of 
starting  the  beast  out  of  his  meditative  amble  into 
something  remotely  resembling  a  canter,  and  elicit- 
ing an  alarmed  squeal  from  the  rider  —  at  which  the 
muleteer,  with  the  most  innocent  face  in  the  world, 
would  appear  under  the  horse's  nose  and  grasp  the 
bridle,  assuring  the  frightened  equestrian  that  the 
beast  was  "kala"  —  or  **all  right." 

All  the  steeds  were  small  with  the  exception  of  the 
altitudinous  mule  ridden  by  one  of  the  ladies,  and 
they  were  not  at  all  bothered  by  the  low  branches  of 
the  trees  through  which  we  wended  our  way.  Not 
so,  however,  the  riders.  The  thorny  branches  that 
just  cleared  the  nonchalant  horse's  head  swept  over 
the  saddle  with  uncompromising  vigor,  and  the 
effort  to  swing  the  beast  away  from  one  tree  meant 


254     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

encountering  similar  difficulties  on  the  other  side  of 
the  narrow  path.  Through  this  arboreal  Scylla  and 
Charybdis  it  was  extremely  difficult  navigation  and 
the  horses  took  no  interest  in  our  plight  at  all,  so 
that  long  before  we  emerged  from  the  last  of  the 
groves  along  the  way  we  were  a  beraveled  and 
bescratched  company. 

Shortly  after  noon  two  villages  appeared  far  ahead, 
and  we  were  engaged  in  speculating  as  to  which 
one  was  Gremka,  when  the  guides  suddenly  turned 
again  and  shot  straight  up  the  hill  toward  a  narrow 
defile  in  the  mountain  wall  we  had  been  skirting.  It 
proved  as  narrow  as  a  chimney  and  almost  as  steep, 
and  for  a  few  moments  we  scrambled  sharply,  our 
little  horses  struggling  hard  to  get  their  burdens  up 
the  grade ;  but  at  last  they  gained  the  top,  and  we 
emerged  from  between  two  walls  of  towering  rock 
into  another  and  even  fairer  landscape.  The  plain  of 
the  Alpheios  spread  directly  below,  but  we  were  not 
allowed  to  descend  to  it.  Instead  we  actually  began 
to  climb,  and  for  an  hour  or  two  more  we  rode  along 
the  side  of  the  range  of  hills  through  the  midst  of 
which  we  had  just  penetrated.  The  path  was  plea- 
santly wooded,  and  the  foliage  was  thick  enough  to 
afford  a  grateful  shade  above  and  a  soft  carpeting 
of  dead  leaves  below.  The  air  was  heavy  with  the 
balsamic  fragrance  of  the  boughs,  and  the  birds  sang 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      255 

merrily  although  it  was  midday.  Through  the  vistas 
that  opened  in  this  delightful  grove  we  got  recurring 
glimpses  of  the  Erymanthus  range,  now  separated 
from  us  only  by  the  miles  of  open  plain,  and  vastly 
impressive  in  their  ruggedness. 

The  sides  of  the  range  of  hills  along  which  our 
path  wound  were  corrugated  again  and  again  by 
ravines,  worn  by  the  brooks,  and  our  progress  was 
a  continual  rising  and  falling  in  consequence.  The 
footing  was  slippery,  due  to  the  minute  particles  of 
reddish  gravel  and  sand,  so  that  here  even  our 
mountain  horses  slipped  and  stumbled,  and  we  were 
warned  to  dismount  and  pick  our  own  way  down, 
which  we  did,  shouting  gayly  "  Varka!  Varka  !  "  at 
the  crossing  of  every  absurd  little  three-inch  brook, 
to  the  intense  enjoyment  of  the  muleteers.  And  thus 
by  two  in  the  afternoon  we  arrived  at  Gremka,  a 
poor  little  hamlet  almost  at  the  edge  of  the  great 
plain,  and  were  told  that  we  had  made  splendid  time, 
so  that  we  might  have  almost  an  hour  of  rest,  while 
Stathi  unlimbered  the  sumpter  mules  and  spread 
luncheon  under  two  pleasant  plane  trees  beside  a 
real  spring. 

From  Gremka  on,  we  found  the  road  again.  It  was 
almost  absolutely  level  after  we  left  the  minor  foot- 
hill on  which  Gremka  sits,  and  for  the  remainder  of 
our  day  we  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  in  civili- 


256    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

zation  again.  Curiously  enough,  it  was  here  that  our 
little  horses,  that  had  been  so  admirably  reliable  in 
precipitous  trails  of  loose  rock  and  sand,  began  to 
stumble  occasionally,  as  if  careless  now  that  the  road 
was  smooth  and  doubtless  somewhat  weary  with  the 
miles  of  climbing  and  descending.  The  guides  and 
muleteers,  refreshed  with  a  little  food  and  a  vast 
amount  of  resinated  wine,  began  to  sing  marriage 
music  louder  than  ever,  and  the  most  imposing  figure 
of  all,  a  man  who  in  every-day  life  was  a  butcher  and 
who  carried  his  huge  cleaver  thrust  in  his  leathern 
belt,  essayed  to  converse  with  us  in  modern  Greek, 
but  with  indifferent  success.  The  landscape,  while  no 
longer  rugged,  was  pleasant  and  peaceful  as  the  road 
wound  about  the  valley  through  low  hillocks  and 
knolls  crowned  with  little  groves  of  pine,  the  broad 
lower  reaches  of  the  rivers  testifying  that  we  were 
nearing  the  sea.  And  at  last,  toward  sunset,  we  swung 
in  a  long  line  down  over  the  sands  that  skirt  the  rush- 
ing Alpheios  and  came  to  rest  on  the  banks  opposite 
Olympia,  whose  hotels  we  could  easily  see  across  the 
swelling  flood. 

The  Alpheios  is  not  to  be  despised  as  a  river  in 
April.  It  is  not  especially  wide,  but  it  has  what  a 
good  many  Greek  rivers  do  not,  —  water,  and  plenty 
of  it,  running  a  swift  course  between  the  low  banks 
of  the  south  and  the  steeper  bluffs  that  confine  it  on 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA       257 

the  Olympia  side.  The  ferry  was  waiting.  It  proved 
to  be  a  sizable  boat,  of  the  general  shape  of  a  coast- 
wise schooner,  but  devoid  of  masts,  and  mainly  hol- 
low, save  for  a  little  deck  fore  and  aft.  Three  voluble 
and,  as  it  proved,  rapacious  natives  manned  it,  the 
motive  power  being  poles.  With  these  ferrymen  Spy- 
ros  and  Stathi  almost  immediately  became  involved 
in  a  furious  controversy,  aided  by  our  cohort  of  mule- 
teers. It  did  not  surprise  us  greatly,  and  knowing  that 
whatever  happened  we  should  be  financially  scathless, 
we  sat  down  on  the  bank  and  skipped  pebbles  in  the 
water.  It  developed  that  the  boatman  had  demanded 
thrice  his  fee,  and  that  Spyros,  who  had  no  illusions 
about  departed  spirits,  objected  strenuously  to  being 
gouged  in  this  way  and  was  protesting  vehemently 
and  volubly,  while  Stathi,  whose  exterior  vvas  ordi- 
narily so  calm,  was  positively  terrible  to  behold  as  he 
danced  about  the  gesticulating  knot  of  men.  It  finally 
became  so  serious  that  the  Professor  and  I,  looking 
as  fierce  as  we  could,  ranged  ourselves  alongside,  men- 
tioning a  wholly  mythical  intimacy  with  the  head  of 
the  Hellenic  police  department  in  the  hope  of  promot- 
ing a  wholesome  spirit  of  compromise,  but  really  more 
anxious  to  calm  the  excited  cook,  who  was  clamor- 
ing for  the  tools  of  his  trade  that  he  might  dispatch 
these  thrice-qualified  knaves  of  boatmen  then  and 
there.    Eventually,  as  tending  to  induce  a  cessation 


258     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  hostilities,  we  cast  off  the  mooring  —  whereat  the 
dispute  suddenly  ended  and  the  beasts  of  burden  went 
aboard.  So  also  did  the  Professor,  who  was  anxious 
to  establish  a  strategic  base  on  the  opposite  bank  ; 
and  the  rest  of  us  sat  and  watched  the  craft  pushed 
painfully  out  into  the  stream  and  well  up  against  the 
current,  until  a  point  was  reached  whence  the  force  of 
the  river  took  her  and  bore  her  madly  down  to  her 
berth  on  the  Olympia  bank.  Here  fresh  difficulties 
arose,  —  not  financial  but  mechanical.  The  heavily 
loaded  little  donkeys  proved  utterly  unable  to  step 
ox'^er  the  gunwale  and  get  ashore.  It  was  an  inspiring 
sight  to  watch,  the  Professor  tugging  manfully  at  the 
bridle  and  the  remainder  of  the  crew  boosting  with 
might  and  main  ;  but  it  was  of  no  avail,  although  they 
wrought  mightily,  until  at  the  psychological  moment 
and  in  the  spot  most  fitted  to  receive  it,  a  muleteer 
gave  the  needed  impetus  by  a  prodigious  kick,  which 
lifted  the  patient  ass  over  the  side  and  out  on  the 
bank.  The  rest  was  easy.  We  were  ferried  over  in 
our  turn  and  disappeared  from  the  view  of  the  boat- 
men, each  side  expressing  its  opinion  of  the  other  in 
terms  which  we  gathered  from  the  tones  employed 
were  the  diametrical  reverse  of  complimentary.  It  was 
twelve  hours  to  a  dot  from  the  time  of  our  departure 
from  Andhritssena  when  we  strolled  into  our  hotel  — 
at  which  fact  Spyros  plumed  himself  not  a  little. 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      259 

It  had  not  been  an  unduly  fatiguing  day,  after  all. 
The  frequent  walking  that  we  had  done  served  to 
break  up  the  tedium  of  long  riding,  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  productive  of  numb  limbs  and  stiff 
joints.  It  is  well  to  bear  this  in  mind,  for  I  have  seen 
unaccustomed  riders  assisted  from  their  saddles  after 
too  long  jaunts  utterly  unable  to  stand,  and  of  course 
much  less  to  walk,  until  a  long  period  of  rest  had 
restored  the  circulation  in  the  idle  members.  Fortu- 
nately, too,  we  had  been  blessed  with  an  incomparable 
day.  Spyros  confessed  that  he  had  secretly  dreaded 
a  rain,  which  would  have  made  the  path  dangerous 
in  spots  where  it  was  narrow  and  composed  of  clay. 
As  it  was,  we  arrived  in  Olympia  in  surprisingly  good 
condition,  and  on  schedule  time,  though  by  no  means 
unready  to  welcome  real  beds  again  and  the  chance 
for  unlimited  warm  water, 

Olympia,  like  Delphi,  is  a  place  of  memories 
chiefly.  The  visible  remains  are  numerous,  but  so 
flat  that  some  little  technical  knowledge  is  needed  to 
restore  them  in  mind.  There  is  no  village  at  the  mod- 
ern Olympia  at  all,  —  nothing  but  five  or  six  little  inns 
and  a  railway  station,  —  so  that  Delphi  really  has 
the  advantage  of  Olympia  in  this  regard.  As  a  site 
connected  with  ancient  Greek  history  and  Greek  re- 
ligion, the  two  places  are  as  similar  in  nature  as  they 
are  in  general  ruin.    The  field  in  which  the  ancient 


26o     GREECE  AND  THE  vEGEAN  ISLANDS 

structures  stand  lies  just  across  the  tiny  tributary 
river  Cladeus,  spanned  by  a  footbridge. 

Even  from  the  opposite  bank,  the  ruins  present 
a  most  interesting  picture,  with  its  attractiveness 
greatly  enhanced  by  the  neighboring  pines,  which 
scatter  themselves  through  the  precinct  itself  and 
cover  densely  the  little  conical  hill  of  Kronos  close 
by,  while  the  grasses  of  the  plain  grow  luxuriandy 
among  the  fallen  stones  of  the  former  temples  and 
apartments  of  the  athletes.  The  ruins  are  so  numer- 
ous and  so  prostrate  that  the  non-technical  visitor  is 
seriously  embarrassed  to  describe  them,  as  is  the  case 
with  every  site  of  the  kind.  All  the  ruins,  practically, 
have  been  identified  and  explained,  and  naturally 
they  all  have  to  do  with  the  housing  or  with  the  con- 
tests of  the  visiting  athletes  of  ancient  times,  or  with 
the  worship  of  tutelary  divinities.  Almost  the  first 
extensive  ruin  that  we  found  on  passing  the  encir- 
cling precinct  wall  was  the  Prytaneum  —  a  sort  of 
ancient  training  table  at  which  victorious  contestants 
were  maintained  gratis  —  while  beyond  lay  other 
equally  extensive  remnants  of  exercising  places,  such 
as  the  Palaestra  for  the  wrestlers.  But  all  these  were 
dominated,  evidently,  by  the  two  great  temples,  an 
ancient  one  of  comparatively  small  size  sacred  to 
Hera,  and  a  mammoth  edifice  dedicated  to  Zeus, 
which  still  gives  evidence  of  its  enormous  extent, 


I 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      261 

while  the  fallen  column-drums  reveal  some  idea  of 
the  other  proportions.  It  was  in  its  day  the  chief 
glory  of  the  inclosure,  and  the  statue  of  the  god 
was  even  reckoned  among  the  seven  wonders  of  the 
world.  Unfortunately  this  statue,  like  that  of  Athena 
at  Athens,  has  been  irretrievably  lost.  But  there  is 
enough  of  the  great  shrine  standing  in  the  midst  of 
the  ruins  to  inspire  one  with  an  idea  of  its  greatness ; 
and,  in  the  museum  above,  the  heroic  figures  from 
its  two  pediments  have  been  restored  and  set  up  in 
such  wise  as  to  reproduce  the  external  adornment  of 
the  temple  with  remarkable  success.  Gathered  around 
this  central  building,  the  remainder  of  the  ancient 
structures  having  to  do  with  the  peculiar  uses  of  the 
spot  present  a  bewildering  array  of  broken  stones 
and  marbles.  An  obtrusive  remnant  of  a  Byzantine 
church  is  the  one  discordant  feature.  Aside  from  this 
the  precinct  recalls  only  the  distant  time  when  the 
regular  games  called  all  Greece  to  Olympia,  while 
the  "  peace  of  God"  prevailed  throughout  the  king- 
dom. Just  at  the  foot  of  Kronos  a  long  terrace  and 
flight  of  steps  mark  the  position  of  a  row  of  old  trea- 
suries, as  at  Delphi,  while  along  the  eastern  side  of 
the  precinct  are  to  be  seen  the  remains  of  a  portico 
once  famous  for  its  echoes,  where  sat  the  judges  who 
distributed  the  prizes.  There  is  also  a  most  graceful 
arch  remaining  to  mark  the  entrance  to  the  ancient 


262     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

stadium,  of  which  nothing  else  now  remains.  Of  the 
later  structures  on  the  site,  the  "  house  of  Nero  "  is 
the  most  interesting  and  extensive.  The  Olympic 
games  were  still  celebrated,  even  after  the  Roman 
domination,  and  Nero  himself  entered  the  lists  in  his 
own  reign.  He  caused  a  palace  to  be  erected  for  him 
on  that  occasion — and  of  course  he  won  a  victory,  for 
any  other  outcome  would  have  been  most  impolite, 
not  to  say  dangerous.  Nero  was  more  fortunately 
lodged  than  were  the  other  ancient  contestants,  it 
appears,  for  there  were  no  hostelries  in  old  Olympia 
in  which  the  visiting  multitudes  could  be  housed,  and 
the  athletes  and  spectators  who  came  from  all  over 
the  land  were  accustomed  to  bring  their  own  tents 
and  pitch  them  roundabout,  many  of  them  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  Alpheios. 

The  many  treasuries,  to  which  reference  has  been 
made  as  running  along  the  terrace  wall  at  the  very 
foot  of  the  hill  of  Kronos,  are  spoken  of  by  Pausanias. 
Enough  of  them  is  occasionally  to  be  found  to  enable 
one  to  judge  how  they  appeared  —  somewhat,  no 
doubt,  like  the  so-called  "treasury  of  the  Athenians" 
that  one  may  see  in  a  restored  form  at  Delphi.  In 
these  tiny  buildings  were  kept  the  smaller  votive 
gifts  of  the  various  states  and  the  apparatus  for  the 
games.  Not  far  from  this  row  of  foundations  and 
close  by  the  terrace  wall  that  leads  along  the  hill 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      263 

down  to  the  arch  that  marks  the  stadium  entrance, 
are  several  bases  on  which  stood  bronze  statues  of 
Zeus,  set  up  by  the  use  of  moneys  derived  from  fines 
for  fracturing  the  rules  of  the  games.  Various  ancient 
athletes  achieved  a  doubtful  celebrity  by  having  to 
erect  these  "  Zanes,"  as  they  were  called,  one  of  them 
being  a  memorial  of  the  arrant  coward  Sarapion  of 
Alexandria,  who  was  so  frightened  at  the  prospect  of 
entering  the  pankration  for  which  he  had  set  down 
his  name  that  he  fled  the  day  before  the  contest. 

Within  the  precinct  one  may  still  see  fragments 
of  the  pedestal  which  supported  Phidias's  wonderful 
gold-and-ivory  image  of  Zeus.  The  god  himself  is 
said  to  have  been  so  enchanted  with  the  sculptor's 
work  that  he  hurled  a  thunderbolt  down,  which  struck 
near  the  statue  ;  and  the  spot  was  marked  with  a  vase 
of  marble.  Just  how  approval  was  spelled  out  of  so 
equivocal  a  manifestation  might  seem  rather  diffi- 
cult to  see  ;  but  such  at  any  rate  was  the  fact.  Of  the 
other  remaining  bases,  the  most  interesting  is  doubt- 
less the  tall  triangular  pedestal  of  the  Nike  of  Pseo- 
nius,  still  to  be  seen  in  situ,  though  its  graceful  statue 
is  in  the  museum. 

Just  above  the  meadows  on  the  farther  bank,  there 
runs  a  range  of  hills,  through  which  we  had  but  re- 
cently ridden.  And  it  was  there  that  the  ancients  found 
a  convenient  crag  from  which  to  hurl  the  unfortunate 


264    GREECE  AND  THE  .EGEAN  ISLANDS 

women  who  dared  venture  to  look  on  at  the  games. 
The  law  provided  that  no  woman's  eye  should  see 
those  contests,  and  so  far  as  is  known  only  one  wo- 
man caught  breaking  this  law  ever  escaped  the  pen- 
alty of  it.  She  was  the  mother  of  so  many  victorious 
athletes  that  an  unwonted  immunity  was  extended  to 
her.  Other  women,  whose  disguise  was  penetrated, 
were  made  stern  examples  to  frighten  future  venture- 
some maids  and  matrons  out  of  seeking  to  view  what 
was  forbidden. 

The  games  at  Olympia  were  celebrated  during  a 
period  of  about  a  thousand  years,  throughout  which  time 
they  furnished  the  one  recognized  system  of  dates. 
They  recurred  at  four-year  intervals.  Long  before  the 
appointed  month  of  the  games,  which  were  always 
held  in  midsummer,  duly  accredited  ambassadors 
were  sent  forth  to  all  the  cities  and  states  of  Hellas  to 
announce  the  coming  of  the  event  and  to  proclaim  the 
"  peace  of  God,"  which  the  law  decreed  should  prevail 
during  the  days  of  the  contest,  and  in  which  it  was 
sacrilege  not  to  join,  whatever  the  exigency.  On  the 
appointed  date  the  cities  of  all  Greece  sent  the  flower 
of  their  youth  to  Olympia,  runners,  wrestlers,  discus 
throwers,  chariot  drivers,  boxers,  and  the  like,  as  well 
as  their  choicest  horses,  to  contend  for  the  coveted 
trophy.  During  the  first  thirteen  Olympiads  there  was 
but  one  athletic  event,  —  a  running  race.  In  later  times 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      265 

the  number  was  added  to  until  the  race  had  grown 
to  a  "  pentathlon,"  or  contest  of  five  kinds,  and  still 
later  to  include  twenty-four  different  exercises.  None 
but  Greeks  of  pure  blood  could  contest,  at  least  until 
the  Roman  times,  and  nobles  and  plebeians  vied  in 
striving  for  the  victor's  wreath,  although  the  richer 
were  at  a  decided  advantage  in  the  matter  of  the  horse 
races.  The  prize  offered,  however,  was  of  no  intrinsic 
value  at  all,  being  nothing  but  a  crown  of  wild  olive, 
and  it  astonished  and  dismayed  the  invading  Persians 
not  a  little  to  find  that  they  were  being  led  against  a 
nation  that  would  strive  so  earnestly  and  steadfastly 
for  a  prize  that  seemed  so  little.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
it  was  not  as  slight  a  reward  as  it  appeared  to  be,  for 
in  the  incidental  honors  that  it  carried  the  world  has 
seldom  seen  its  equal.  The  man  who  proved  his  right 
to  be  crowned  with  this  simple  wreath  was  not  only 
regarded  as  honored  in  himself,  but  honor  was  im- 
puted to  his  family  and  to  his  city  as  well ;  and  the 
city  generally  went  wild  with  enthusiasm  over  him, 
some  even  going  so  far  as  to  raze  their  walls  in  token 
that  with  so  gallant  sons  they  needed  no  bulwarks. 
Special  privileges  were  conferred  upon  him  at  home 
and  even  abroad.  In  many  cities  the  victor  of  an 
Olympic  contest  was  entitled  to  maintenance  at  the 
public  charge  in  the  utmost  honor,  and  the  greatest 
poets  of  the  day  delighted  to  celebrate  the  victors  in 


266    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

their  stateliest  odes.  Thus,  although  games  in  honor 
of  the  gods  were  held  at  various  other  points  in 
Greece,  as  for  example  at  Delphi  and  at  the  isthmus 
of  Corinth,  none  surpassed  the  Olympic  as  a  national 
institution,  sharing  the  highest  honors  with  the  oracle 
at  Delphi  as  an  object  of  universal  reverence. 

Of  course  the  origin  of  these  great  games  is 
shrouded  in  mystery,  which  has,  as  usual,  crystal- 
lized into  legend.  And  as  the  pediment  in  one  end 
of  the  temple  of  the  Olympian  Zeus,  preserved  in  the 
museum  near  by,  deals  with  this  story,  it  may  be 
in  order  to  speak  of  it.  Tradition  relates  that  King 
CEnomaus  had  a  splendid  stud  of  race  horses  of  which 
he  was  justly  proud,  and  likewise  was  possessed  of 
a  surpassingly  beautiful  daughter  whom  men  called 
Hippodameia,  who  was  naturally  sought  in  marriage 
by  eligible  young  men  from  all  around.  The  condi- 
tion precedent  set  by  CEnomaus  to  giving  her  hand 
was,  however,  a  difficult  one.  The  suitor  must  race 
his  horses  against  those  of  CEnomaus,  driving  the 
team  himself ;  and  if  he  lost  he  was  put  to  death.  One 
version  relates  that  CEnomaus,  if  he  found  himself 
being  distanced,  was  wont  to  spear  the  luckless  swains 
from  behind.  At  any  rate  nobody  had  succeeded 
in  winning  Hippodameia  when  young  Pelops  came 
along  and  entered  the  contest.  He  had  no  doubt 
heard  of  the  king's  unsportsmanlike  javelin  tactics, 


I 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      267 

for  he  adopted  some  subterfuges  of  his  own,  —  doing 
something  or  other  to  the  chariot  of  his  opponent, 
such  as  loosening  a  linchpin  or  bribing  his  charioteer 
to  weaken  it  in  some  other  part,  —  with  the  result  that 
when  the  race  came  off  CEnomaus  was  thrown  out 
and  killed,  and  Pelops  won  the  race  and  Hippoda- 
meia  —  and  of  course  lived  happily  ever  after. 

The  pedimental  sculptures  from  the  great  temple 
reproduce  the  scene  that  preceded  the  race  in  figures 
of  heroic  size,  with  no  less  a  personage  than  Zeus 
himself  in  the  centre  of  the  group,  while  CEnomaus 
and  Pelops  with  their  chariots  and  horses  and  their 
attendants  range  themselves  on  either  side,  and  Hip- 
podameia  stands  expectantly  waiting.  The  restora- 
tions have  been  liberal,  but  on  the  whole  successful ; 
and  besides  giving  a  very  good  idea  of  the  legend 
itself,  they  are  highly  interesting  from  a  sculptural 
point  of  view  as  showing  a  distinctive  style  of  carving 
in  marble.  The  other  pediment,  preserved  in  about  the 
same  proportion,  is  less  interesting  from  a  legendary 
standpoint,  but  is  full  of  animation  and  artistic  in- 
terest. It  represents  the  contest  between  the  Centaurs 
and  Lapiths,  with  Apollo  just  in  the  act  of  interven- 
ing to  prevent  the  rape  of  the  Lapith  women.  This 
episode  had  little  appropriateness  to  the  Olympic  site, 
so  far  as  I  know,  but  the  ease  with  which  the  Centaur 
lent  himself  to  the  limitations  of  pedimental  sculpture 


268    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

might  well  explain  the  adoption  of  the  incident  here. 
The  head  of  Apollo  is  of  the  interesting  type  with 
which  one  grows  familiar  in  going  through  museums 
devoted  to  early  work,  the  most  notable  thing  being 
the  curious  treatment  of  hair  and  eyes. 

The  precinct  about  the  great  temple  was  once  filled 
with  votive  statues,  and  Pliny  relates  that  he  counted 
something  like  three  thousand.  Of  these  it  appears 
that  few  remain  sufficiently  whole  to  add  much  inter- 
est. But  out  of  all  the  great  assemblage  of  sculptures 
there  is  one  at  least  surviving  that  must  forever  as- 
suage any  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  rest.  That,  of  course, 
is  the  inimitable  Hermes  of  Praxiteles,  which  every- 
body knows  through  reproductions  and  photographs, 
but  which  in  the  original  is  so  incomparably  beautiful 
that  no  reproduction  can  hope  to  give  an  adequate 
idea  of  it,  either  in  the  expression  of  body  and  fea- 
tures, its  poise  and  grace,  or  in  the  exquisite  sheen 
of  marble.  They  have  wisely  set  it  off  by  itself  in  a 
room  which  cannot  be  seen  from  the  great  main  hall 
of  the  museum,  and  the  observer  is  left  to  contem- 
plate it  undistracted.  It  seems  generally  to  be  agreed 
that  it  is  the  masterpiece  of  extant  Greek  sculpture. 
It  is  nearly  perfect  in  its  preservation,  the  upraised 
arm  and  small  portions  of  the  legs  being  about  all 
that  is  missing.  The  latter  have  been  supplied,  not 
unsuccessfully,  to  join  the  admirable  feet  to  the  rest 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      269 

No  effort  has  been  made,  and  happily  so,  to  supply 
the  missing  arm.  The  infant  Dionysus  perched  on 
the  left  arm  is  no  great  addition  to  the  statue,  and 
one  might  well  wish  it  were  not  there ;  but  even  this 
slight  drawback  cannot  interfere  with  the  admiration 
one  feels  for  so  perfect  a  work.  Hermes  alone  fully 
justifies  the  journey  to  Olympia,  and  once  seen  he 
will  never  be  forgotten.  The  satin  smoothness  of 
the  marble  admirably  simulates  human  (or  god-like) 
flesh,  doubtless  because  of  the  processes  which  the 
Greeks  knew  of  rubbing  it  down  with  a  preparation 
of  wax.  No  trace  of  other  external  treatment  survives, 
save  a  faint  indication  of  gilding  on  the  sandals.  If 
the  hair  and  eyes  were  ever  painted,  the  paint  has 
entirely  disappeared  in  the  centuries  that  the  statue 
lay  buried  in  the  sands  that  the  restless  Alpheios  and 
Cladeus  washed  into  the  sacred  inclosure.  For  the 
rivers  frequently  left  their  narrow  beds  in  former  times 
and  invaded  the  precincts  of  the  gods,  despite  the 
efforts  of  man  to  wall  them  out.  They  have  done 
irreparable  damage  to  the  buildings  there,  but  since 
they  at  the  same  time  preserved  Hermes  almost  in- 
tact for  modern  eyes  to  enjoy,  perhaps  their  other 
vandalisms  may  be  pardoned. 

The  museum  also  includes  among  its  treasures  a 
number  of  the  metopes  from  the  great  temple  of  Zeus, 
representing  the  labors  of  Hercules.  But  probably  next 


270     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

after  the  incomparable  Hermes  must  be  reckoned  the 
Nike  of  Paeonius,  standing  on  a  high  pedestal  at  one 
end  of  the  great  main  hall,  and  seemingly  sweeping 
triumphantly  through  space  with  her  draperies  flowing 
free  —  a  wonderful  lightness  being  suggested  despite 
the  weight  of  the  material.  This  Nike  has  always 
seemed  to  me  a  fair  rival  of  her  more  famous  sister 
from  Samothrace,  suggesting  the  idea  of  victory  even 
more  forcibly  than  the  statue  on  the  staircase  of  the 
Louvre,  which  has  an  Amazonian  quality  suggestive 
of  actual  conflict  rather  than  a  past  successful  issue. 
The  unfortunate  circumstance  about  the  Nike  at  Olym- 
pia  is  that  her  head  is  gone,  and  they  have  sought  to 
suspend  the  recovered  portion  of  it  over  the  body  by 
an  iron  rod.  A  wrist  is  in  like  manner  appended  to 
one  of  the  arms,  and  the  two  give  a  jarring  note,  by 
recalling  Ichabod  Crane  and  Cap'n  Cuttle  in  most 
incongruous  surroundings.  Nevertheless  the  Nike  is 
wonderful,  and  would  be  more  so  if  it  were  not  for 
these  lamentable  attempts  to  restore  what  is  not  pos- 
sible to  be  restored. 

Of  all  the  many  little  collections  in  Greece,  that 
in  Olympia  is  doubtless  the  best,  and  it  is  fittingly 
housed  in  a  building  in  the  classic  style,  given  by  a 
patriotic  Greek,  M.  Syngros.  Aside  from  the  artistic 
remnants,  there  are  a  number  of  relics  bearing  on  the 
athletic  aspect  of  Olympia  —  its  chief  side,  of  course. 


OVER  THE  HILLS  TO  OLYMPIA      271 

And  among  these  are  some  ancient  discs  of  metal  and 
stone,  and  a  huge  rock  which  bears  an  inscription  re- 
lating that  a  certain  strong  man  of  ancient  times  was 
able  to  lift  it  over  his  head  and  to  toss  it  a  stated  dis- 
tance. It  seems  incredible  —  but  there  were  giants  in 
the  land  in  those  days. 

The  modern  Olympic  games,  such  as  are  held  in 
Athens  every  now  and  then,  are  but  feeble  attempts  to 
give  a  classic  tone  to  a  very  ordinary  athletic  meet  of 
international  character.  There  is  none  of  the  signifi- 
cance attached  to  the  modern  events  that  attended  the 
old,  and  the  management  leaves  much  to  be  desired. 
Former  visitors  are  no  longer  maintained  at  the  Pry- 
taneum  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  even  denied  passes 
to  witness  the  struggles  of  their  successors.  The 
games  fill  Athens  with  a  profitable  throng  and  serve  to 
advertise  the  country,  but  aside  from  this  they  have 
no  excuse  for  being  on  Greek  soil,  and  mar  the  land 
so  far  as  concerns  the  enjoyment  of  true  Philhellenes, 
Fortunately  there  is  no  possible  chance  of  holding 
any  such  substitute  games  at  Olympia  herself.  Her 
glory  has  departed  forever,  save  as  it  survives  in 
memory. 


CHAPTER  XIV.     THE  ISLES  OF 
GREECE:  DELOS 


IT  was  a  gray  morning  —  for  Greece.  The  sky  was 
overcast,  the  wind  blew  chill  from  the  north,  and 
anon  the  rain  would  set  in  and  give  us  a  few  moments 
of  downpour,  only  to  cease  again  and  permit  a  brief 
glimpse  ahead  across  the  JEgean,  into  which  classic 
sea  our  little  steamer  was  thrusting  her  blunt  nose, 
rising  and  falling  on  the  heavy  swell.  We  had  borne 
around  Sunium  in  the  early  dawn,  and  our  course  was 
now  in  an  easterly  direction  toward  the  once  famous 
but  now  entirely  deserted  island  of  Delos,  the  centre 
of  the  Cyclades.  Ahead,  whenever  the  murk  lifted,  we 
could  see  several  of  the  nearer  and  larger  islands  of 
the  group,  —  that  imposing  row  of  submerged  moun- 
tain peaks  that  reveal  the  continuation  of  the  Attic 
peninsula  under  water  as  it  streams  away  to  the  south- 
east from  the  promontory  of  Sunium.  The  seeming 
chaos  of  the  Grecian  archipelago  is  easily  reducible 
to  something  like  order  by  keeping  this  fact  in  mind. 
It  is  really  composed  of  two  parallel  submerged  moun- 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      273 

tain  ranges,  the  prolongations  of  Attica  and  of  EubcEa 
respectively,  the  summits  of  which  pierce  the  surface 
of  the  water  again  and  again,  forming  the  islands 
which  every  schoolboy  recalls  as  having  names  that 
end  in  "os."  Just  before  us,  in  a  row  looming  through 
the  drifting  rain,  we  saw  Kythnos,  Seriphos,  and  Siph- 
nos,  while  beyond  them,  and  belonging  to  the  other 
ridge,  the  chart  revealed  Andros,  Tenos,  Naxos,  My- 
konos,  and  Paros,  as  yet  impossible  of  actual  sight. 
This  galaxy  of  islands  must  have  proved  highly  use- 
ful to  the  ancient  mariners,  no  doubt,  since  by  reason 
of  their  numbers  and  proximity  to  each  other  and  to 
the  mainland,  as  well  as  by  reason  of  their  distinctive 
shapes  and  contours,  it  was  possible  always  to  keep 
some  sort  of  landmark  in  sight,  as  was  highly  desir- 
able in  days  when  sailors  knew  nothing  of  compasses 
and  steered  only  by  the  stars.  Lovers  of  Browning  will 
recall  the  embarrassment  that  overtook  the  Rhodian 
bark  that  set  sail  with  Balaustion  for  Athens,  only  to 
lose  all  reckoning  and  bring  up  in  Syracuse.  No  an- 
cient ship  was  at  all  sure  of  accurate  navigation  with- 
out frequent  landfalls,  and  even  the  hardy  mariners  of 
Athens  were  accustomed,  when  en  route  to  Sicily,  to 
hug  the  rugged  shores  of  the  Peloponnesus  all  the  way 
around  to  the  opening  of  the  Corinthian  Gulf,  and 
thence  to  proceed  to  Corfu  before  venturing  to  strike 
off  westward  across  the  Adriatic  to  the  "  heel "  of 


274     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Italy,  where  one  could  skirt  the  shore  again  until  Sicily 
hove  in  sight  near  the  dreaded  haunts  of  Scylla.  Of 
course  other  considerations,  such  as  food  and  water, 
added  to  the  desirability  of  keeping  the  land  in  sight 
most  of  the  time  on  so  long  a  voyage ;  but  not  the  least 
important  of  the  reasons  was  the  necessity  of  keeping 
on  the  right  road. 

We  had  set  sail  on  a  chartered  ship,  in  a  party 
numbering  about  forty,  most  of  whom  were  bent  on 
the  serious  consideration  of  things  archaeological, 
w^hile  the  inconsiderable  remainder  were  unblush- 
ingly  in  search  of  pleasure  only  slightly  tinged  by 
scientific  enthusiasm.  In  no  other  way,  indeed,  could 
such  a  journey  be  made  in  anything  like  comfort. 
The  Greek  steamers,  while  numerous,  are  slow  and 
small,  and  not  to  be  recommended  for  cleanliness  or 
convenience ;  while  their  stated  routes  include  much 
that  is  of  no  especial  interest  to  visitors,  who  are 
chiefly  eager  to  view  scenes  made  glorious  by  past 
celebrity,  and  are  less  concerned  with  the  modern  sea- 
ports devoted  to  a  prosaic  trafBc  in  wine  and  fruits. 
To  one  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  number  him- 
self among  those  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  yachts, 
the  ^gean  furnishes  a  fruitful  source  of  pleasure.  To 
us,  the  only  recourse  was  to  the  native  lines  of  freight 
and  passenger  craft,  or  to  join  ourselves  to  a  party 
of  investigators  who  were  taking  an  annual  cruise 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      275 

among  the  famous  ancient  sites.  We  chose  the  lat- 
ter, not  merely  because  of  the  better  opportunity  to 
visit  the  islands  we  had  long  most  wished  to  see, 
but  because  of  the  admirable  opportunity  to  derive 
instruction  as  well  as  pleasure  from  the  voyage.  So 
behold  us  in  our  own  ship,  with  our  own  supplies, 
our  own  sailing  master  and  crew,  sailing  eastward 
over  a  gray  sea,  through  the  spring  showers,  toward 
the  barren  isle  where  Phcebus  sprung. 

Delos  is  easy  enough  to  find  now,  small  as  it  is. 
It  long  ago  ceased  to  be  the  floating  island  that  le- 
gend describes.  If  we  can  permit  ourselves  a  little 
indulgence  in  paganism,  we  may  believe  that  this 
rocky  islet  was  a  chip,  broken  from  the  bed  of  the 
ocean  by  Poseidon,  which  was  floating  about  at  ran- 
dom until  Zeus  anchored  it  to  afford  a  bed  for  Leto, 
that  she  might  be  comfortably  couched  at  the  birth 
of  Apollo,  despite  the  promise  of  Earth  that  the  guilty 
Leto  should  have  no  place  to  lay  her  head.  Thus  the 
vow  which  the  jealousy  of  Hera  had  procured  was 
brought  to  naught,  and  in  Delos  was  born  the  most 
celebrated  of  the  sons  of  Zeus,  together  with  his  twin 
sister,  Artemis. 

Delos  is  in  fact  a  double  island,  divided  by  a  nar- 
row strait  into  Greater  and  Lesser  Delos.  And  it  was 
with  the  lesser  portion  that  we  had  to  do,  as  also  did 
ancient  history.  For  despite  its  insignificant  size  and 


276    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

remoteness,  Delos  the  Less  was  once  a  chief  seat  of 
empire  and  a  great  and  flourishing  city,  as  well  as  the 
repository  of  vast  wealth.  Distant  as  it  seems  from 
Athens,  the  island  is  really  quite  central  with  reference 
to  the  rest  of  the  archipelago,  and  from  its  low  sum- 
mit may  be  seen  most  of  the  Cyclades  on  a  clear 
day.  The  narrow  strait  before  referred  to  furnishes 
about  all  the  harbor  that  is  to  be  found  at  Delos 
to-day.  Into  this  sheltered  bit  of  water  we  steamed 
and  dropped  anchor,  happy  in  the  favoring  wind  that 
allowed  us  a  landing  where  it  is  occasionally  difficult 
to  find  water  sufficiently  smooth  for  the  small  boats ; 
for  here,  as  in  all  Greek  waters,  small  boats  furnish 
the  only  means  of  getting  ashore.  There  was  a  shal- 
low basin  just  before  what  was  once  the  ancient  city, 
and  doubtless  it  was  considered  good  harborage  for 
the  triremes  and  galleys  of  small  draught ;  but  for  even 
a  small  steamer  like  ours  it  was  quite  insufficient  in 
depth,  and  we  came  to  rest  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  landing,  while  the  clouds  broke  and 
the  afternoon  sun  came  out  warm  and  bright  as 
we  clambered  down  to  the  dories  and  pulled  for  the 
shore. 

There  proved  to  be  little  or  no  habitation  save  for 
the  French  excavators  and  their  men,  who  were  com- 
pleting a  notable  work  in  uncovering  not  only  the  an- 
cient precincts  of  Apollo  and  of  the  headquarters  of  the 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      277 

Delian  league,  but  the  residence  portion  of  the  ancient 
city  as  well,  which  we  later  discovered  to  lie  off  to  the 
east  on  the  high  ground.  We  landed  on  a  sort  of 
rocky  mole  erected  along  the  edge  of  what  was  once 
the  sacred  harbor  and  picked  our  way  along  a  narrow- 
gauge  track  used  by  the  excavators,  to  the  maze  of 
ruins  that  lay  beyond.  It  proved  as  bewildering  a 
mass  of  fallen  marbles  as  that  at  Olympia.  The  main 
part  of  the  ruin  is  apparently  a  relic  of  the  religious 
side  of  the  place,  dominated,  of  course,  by  the  cult  of 
Apollo.  Centuries  of  reverence  had  contributed  to  the 
enrichment  of  the  environs  of  the  shrine.  All  about 
the  visitor  finds  traces  of  porticoes  and  propylsea,  the 
largest  of  these  being  erected  by  Philip  V.  of  Mace- 
don,  as  is  testified  to  by  an  extant  inscription.  Little 
remains  standing  of  any  of  the  buildings,  but  the 
bits  of  capital  and  entablature  that  lie  strewn  about 
serve  to  give  a  faint  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  adorn- 
ment that  attended  the  temples  in  their  prime.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  trace  the  course  of  the  sacred  way  lead- 
ing from  the  entrance  around  the  sacred  precinct  to 
the  eastern  fagade  of  the  main  temples,  lined  through- 
out most  of  its  course  by  the  bases  of  statues,  altars, 
and  remnants  of  the  foundations  of  small  rectangular 
buildings  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  treasuries, 
as  at  Delphi  and  Olympia.  Not  far  away  from  the 
main  temple  of  the  god  is  still  to  be  seen  the  base  of 


278     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

his  colossal  statue,  an  inscription  reciting  that  the 
Naxians  made  it,  and  that  they  carved  statue  and  base 
from  the  same  stone.  Whether  this  means  that  the 
figure  and  base  were  actually  a  single  block,  or  only 
that  the  figure  and  base  were  made  of  the  same  specific 
material,  has  caused  some  little  speculation.  As  for 
the  statue  itself,  there  are  at  least  two  large  fragments 
on  the  ground  not  far  away,  easily  identified  by  the 
modeling  as  parts  of  the  huge  back  and  breast  of  the 
colossus.  One  of  his  feet  is  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  a  hand  is  at  the  neighboring  island  of 
Mykonos.  The  rest  is  either  buried  in  the  earth  near 
by,  or  has  been  carried  off  by  vandals.  That  the  earth 
has  many  treasures  still  to  yield  up  is  evident  by  the 
occasional  accidental  discoveries  recently  made  on  the 
site  by  the  diggers.  When  we  were  there  the  con- 
struction of  a  trench  for  the  diminutive  car-track  had 
unearthed  a  beautifully  sculptured  lion  deep  in  the 
soil ;  and  since  that  time  I  have  heard  that  several 
other  similar  finds  have  been  made.  So  it  may  be 
that  the  lime  burners  have  not  made  away  with  the 
great  Apollo  entirely. 

There  are  three  temples,  presumably  all  devoted 
to  the  cult  of  Apollo,  and  one  of  them  no  doubt  to 
the  memory  of  his  unfortunate  mother,  Leto,  who 
bore  him,  according  to  tradition,  on  the  shores  of  the 
sacred  lake  near  by.    Not  far  from  the  Apollo  group 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      279 

are  two  other  ruined  shrines,  supposed  to  have  been 
sacred  to  Artemis.  More  interesting  than  either,  how- 
ever, to  the  layman  is  the  famous  "hall  of  the  bulls," 
which  is  the  largest  and  best  preserved  of  all  the 
buildings,  and  which  takes  its  name  from  the  carved 
bullocks  on  its  capitals.  It  is  not  saying  much,  how- 
ever, to  say  that  it  is  better  preserved  than  the  others. 
It  is  only  so  in  the  sense  that  its  extent  and  general 
plan  are  easier  to  trace.  Its  altar,  known  as  the 
**  horned  altar  of  Apollo,"  from  the  rams'  heads  with 
which  it  was  adorned,  was  accounted  by  the  ancients 
one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  We  were  well 
content  to  leave  the  sacred  precinct,  and  to  wander 
along  toward  the  north,  past  the  Roman  agora,  in  the 
general  direction  of  the  sacred  lake.  It  proved  to 
be  a  sorry  pool,  stagnant  and  unattractive  compared 
with  what  it  must  have  been  when  it  was  in  its  prime, 
with  its  banks  adorned  with  curbing.  Not  far  from 
its  shores  we  were  shown  the  remains  of  several  an- 
cient houses,  also  of  the  Roman  period,  in  which  the 
rooms  were  still  divided  by  walls  of  a  considerable 
height.  These  walls  gave  occasional  evidence  of 
having  been  adorned  with  stucco  and  frescoes,  and 
the  rooms  revealed  fragments  of  tessellated  pave- 
ment, while  under  each  house  was  a  capacious  cistern 
for  the  preservation  of  rain  water.  Of  course  these 
dwellings,  while  recalling  Pompeii,  were  far  less  per- 


28o     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

feet  in  the  way  of  artistic  revelations,  being  so  much 
older. 

These  houses,  interesting  as  they  were,  did  not  com- 
pare with  those  which  we  were  later  shown  on  the 
hill  above  the  precinct.  These  we  passed  on  our  way 
up  to  the  theatre,  and  to  those  of  us  who  were  un- 
skilled in  archaeological  science  they  proved  to  be  the 
most  absorbing  of  all  the  ruins  on  the  little  island. 
There  are  a  good  many  of  them,  lining  several  old 
streets,  as  at  Pompeii.  Their  walls  are  of  sufficient 
altitude  to  give  even  an  idea  of  the  upper  stories, 
and  in  one  case,  at  least,  we  were  able  to  mount,  by 
a  sadly  ruined  stone  staircase,  to  what  was  once 
the  upper  landing.  The  general  arrangement  of  the 
rooms  was  quite  similar  to  that  made  familiar  by  the 
excavated  houses  at  Pompeii,  the  great  central  court, 
or  atrium,  being  adorned  with  a  most  remarkable 
mosaic  representing  Dionysos  riding  on  a  dragon 
of  ferocious  mien.  It  is  kept  covered,  but  a  guard 
obligingly  raised  the  heavy  wooden  door  that  shields 
it  from  the  weather,  and  propped  it  up  with  a  stick 
so  that  it  resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  huge  piano 
lid.  The  coloring  of  the  mosaic  was  lively  in  spite  of 
its  sombreness,  and  the  eyes  of  the  figures  were  ad- 
mirably executed. 

All  around  the  atrium  were  traces  of  a  colonnade, 
pieces  of  the  columns  remaining  intact.  The  walls 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      281 

were  apparently  decorated  with  bits  of  stone  set  deep 
in  a  coating  of  mortar,  and  once  adorned  with  a  col- 
ored wash  of  red,  yellow,  and  blue.  Mural  paintings 
naturally  were  wanting,  for  these  houses  were  not 
only  older  than  those  of  the  Neapolitan  suburb,  but 
they  perished  by  a  slow  weathering  process  instead 
of  by  a  sudden  overwhelming  such  as  overtook  Pom- 
peii. What  traces  of  painting  there  are  left  on  the 
Delian  walls  are  indistinct  and  rather  unsatisfactory, 
and  recall  the  childish  scrawls  of  our  own  day.  But 
the  houses  themselves,  with  their  occasional  pave- 
ments and  the  one  admirable  mosaic,  leave  little  to 
be  desired.  Particularly  interesting  was  the  revela- 
tion of  the  drainage  system.  The  houses  were  not 
only  carefully  provided  with  deep  cisterns  for  pre- 
serving rain  water ;  they  had  also  well-designed  chan- 
nels for  carrying  waste  water  away.  Every  house  in 
these  streets  had  its  drain  covered  with  flat  stones 
running  out  to  the  main  sewer  of  the  street,  while 
those  in  turn  converged  in  a  trunk  sewer  at  the  foot 
of  the  slope.  It  is  evident  enough  that  Delos  was  a 
dry  sort  of  place,  both  by  nature  and  by  artifice,  and 
that  in  the  period  of  the  city's  greatest  celebrity  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  historian  to  refer  to  the 
muddy  condition  existing  at  that  period  of  the  month 
just  before  the  streets  underwent  their  regular  clean- 
ing. 


282  GREECE  AND  THE  yEGEAN  ISLANDS 

We  had  passed  well  up  toward  the  theatre  on  the 
slopes  of  the  height  called  Kynthos  before  we  cleared 
the  ancient  dwellings.  The  theatre  itself  proved  to 
be  roomy,  but  largely  grass-grown  and  exceedingly 
steep  to  clamber  over.  The  portion  devoted  to  seats 
was  chiefly  notable  for  occupying  considerably  more 
than  the  traditional  semicircle,  and  for  having  its 
ends  built  up  with  huge  walls  of  masonry.  Only  the 
lower  seats  are  preserved.  The  colonnaded  proske- 
nion,  which  may  have  supported  a  stage,  is,  however^ 
highly  unusual  and  interesting. 

Sundry  venturesome  spirits  climbed  to  the  summit 
of  Kynthos,  but  it  was  no  day  for  the  view  for  which 
that  eminence  is  celebrated.  On  a  clearer  day  a 
great  many  of  the  Cyclades  could  be  seen,  no  doubt, 
because  of  the  central  location  of  the  island  and  the 
marvelous  clarity  of  the  Greek  atmosphere,  when  it 
is  clear  at  all.  We  were  unfortunate  enough  to  meet 
with  a  showery  April  day,  which  promised  little  in  the 
way  of  distant  prospects.  Halfway  down  the  side  of 
Kynthos,  however,  was  easily  to  be  seen  the  grotto 
of  Apollo.  In  fact,  it  is  the  most  constantly  visible 
feature  of  the  island.  It  is  a  sort  of  artificial  cave  in 
the  side  of  the  hill  toward  the  ruins,  and  here  was 
the  earliest  of  the  temples  to  the  god.  Ancient  hands 
added  to  what  natural  grotto  there  was  by  erecting  a 
primitive  portal  for  it.   Two  huge  slabs  of  stone  seem 


.n3Bi*<lL^ 


DELOS,    SHOWING    GROTTO 


GROTTO    OF   APOLLO.     DELOS 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      283 

to  have  been  allowed  to  drop  toward  one  another 
until  they  met,  forming  a  mutual  support,  so  that  the 
effect  is  that  of  a  gable.  Other  slabs  have  been  ar- 
ranged to  form  a  pitch  roof  over  the  spot,  and  a  mar- 
ble lintel  and  gate  posts  have  also  been  added,  — 
presumably  much  later  than  the  rest.  It  is  even  prob- 
able that  this  venerable  shrine  was  also  the  seat  of  an 
oracle,  for  certain  of  the  internal  arrangements  of  the 
grotto  bear  a  resemblance  to  those  known  to  have 
existed  at  Delphi ;  but  if  there  was  one  in  Delos,  it 
never  attained  to  the  reputation  that  attended  the 
later  chief  home  of  the  far-darting  god. 

The  births  of  Apollo  and  Artemis  appear  to  have 
been  deemed  quite  enough  for  the  celebrity  of  Delos ; 
for  in  after  years,  when  the  Athenians  felt  called  upon 
to  "  purify  "  the  city,  they  enacted  that  no  mortal  in 
the  future  should  be  permitted  to  be  born  or  to  die 
on  the  island.  In  consequence,  temporary  habitations 
were  erected  across  the  narrow  strait  on  the  shores 
of  Greater  Delos  for  the  use  of  those  in  extremis  or 
those  about  to  be  confined.  Aside  from  this  fact,  the 
larger  island  has  little  or  no  interest  to  the  visitor. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  museum  at  Delos.  Some  day 
it  will  be  a  very  interesting  one  indeed.  At  the  time 
of  our  visit  it  was  only  just  finished,  and  had  not  been 
provided  with  any  floor  but  such  as  nature  gave.  In 
due  season  it  will  probably  rank  with  any  for  its 


284    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

archaeological  value,  although  it  will  be  infinitely  less 
interesting  than  others  to  inexpert  visitors,  who  gen- 
erally prefer  statues  of  fair  preservation  to  small  frag- 
ments and  bits  of  inscription.  Of  the  notable  sculptures 
that  must  have  abounded  in  Delos  once,  compara- 
tively little  remains ;  certainly  nothing  to  compare 
with  the  charioteer  and  the  Lysippus  at  Delphi,  or 
with  the  Hermes  and  pedimental  figures  at  Olym- 
pia.  The  great  charm  of  Delos  to  the  unskilled  mind 
is  to  be  found  in  its  history  and  in  its  beautiful  sur- 
roundings. As  a  birthplace  of  one  of  the  major  gods 
of  high  Olympus,  the  seat  of  the  Delian  league  against 
the  Persians,  and  the  original  treasury  of  the  Athe- 
nian empire,  Delos  has  history  enough  to  satisfy  an 
island  many  times  her  size.  Traces  still  remain  of  the 
dancing  place  where  the  Delian  maidens  performed 
their  wonderful  evolutions  during  the  annual  pilgrim- 
age, which  was  a  feature  during  the  Athenian  su- 
premacy ;  and  the  temples  and  treasuries,  ruined  as 
they  are,  forcibly  recall  the  importance  which  once 
attached  to  the  spot.  The  memory  still  survives  of 
the  so-called  "Delian  problem"  of  the  doubling  of 
the  cube,  a  task  that  proved  a  poser  for  the  ancient 
mathematicians  when  the  oracle  propounded,  as  the 
price  of  staying  a  plague,  that  the  Delians  should 
double  the  pedestal  of  Parian  marble  that  stood  in 
the  great  temple.   But  it  is  almost  entirely  a  place  of 


THE  ISLES  OF  GREECE:  DELOS      285 

memories,  deserted  by  all  but  the  excavators  and  an 
occasional  shepherd.  To-day  it  is  little  more  than  the 
bare  rock  that  it  was  when  Poseidon  split  it  from  the 
bed  of  the  sea.  Apollo  gave  it  an  immortality,  how- 
ever, which  does  not  wane  although  Apollo  himself  is 
dead,  Athens  and  Corinth  gave  it  a  worldly  celebrity, 
which  proved  but  temporary  so  far  as  it  depended  on 
activity  in  the  world  of  affairs,  Delos,  washed  by  the 
JEgean,  has  little  to  look  forward  to  but  to  drowse 
the  long  tides  idle,  well  content  with  her  crowded 
hour  of  glorious  life,  and  satisfied  that  her  neighbors 
should  have  the  age  without  a  name. 


CHAPTER  XV.     SAMOS  AND  THE 
TEMPLE  AT  BRANCHID^ 


THE  stiff  north  wind,  which  was  known  to  be 
blowing  outside,  counseled  delaying  departure 
from  Delos  until  after  the  evening  meal,  for  our  course 
to  Samos  lay  through  the  trough  of  the  sea.  In  the 
shelter  of  the  narrow  channel  between  Greater  and 
Lesser  Delos  the  water  was  calm  enough  to  enable 
eating  in  comfort,  and  it  was  the  commendable  rule 
of  the  cruise  to  seek  shelter  for  meals,  owing  to  the 
lack  of  "racks"  to  prevent  the  contents  of  the  tables 
from  shifting  when  the  vessel  rolled.  Hence  it  was 
well  along  in  the  evening  before  the  anchor  was 
weighed  ;  and  as  the  engines  gave  their  first  premon- 
itory wheezes,  word  was  passed  from  the  bridge  that 
all  who  did  not  love  rough  weather  would  better  re- 
tire at  once, as  we  were  certain  to  "catch  it"  as  soon 
as  we  rounded  the  capes  of  the  neighboring  Mykonos 
and  squared  away  for  Samos  across  a  long  stretch  of 
open  water.  The  warning  served  to  bring  home  to  us 
one  of  the  marked  peculiarities  about  cruising  in  the 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  287 

JEge3.n,  namely,  the  succession  of  calm  waters  and 
tempestuous  seas,  which  interlard  themselves  like  the 
streaks  of  fat  and  lean  in  the  bacon  from  the  Irish- 
man's pig,  which  was  fed  to  repletion  one  day  and 
starved  the  next.  This,  of  course,  is  due  to  the  numer- 
ous islands,  never  many  miles  apart,  which  are  forever 
affording  shelter  from  the  breezes  and  waves,  only  to 
open  up  again  and  subject  the  craft  to  a  rolling  and 
boisterous  sea  as  it  crosses  the  stretches  of  open  chan- 
nel between  them.  When  the  experiences  due  to  these 
sudden  transitions  were  not  trying,  they  were  likely 
to  be  amusing,  we  discovered,  as  was  the  case  on  one 
morning  when  the  tables  had  been  laid  for  break- 
fast rather  imprudently  just  before  rounding  a  windy 
promontory.  The  instant  the  ship  felt  the  cross  seas 
she  began  to  roll  heavily,  and  the  entire  array  of  break- 
fast dishes  promptly  left  the  unprotected  table,  only 
to  crash  heavily  against  the  stateroom  doors  that  lined 
the  saloon,  eliciting  shrieks  from  those  within ;  while 
the  following  roll  of  the  vessel  sent  the  debris  career- 
ing across  the  floor  to  bring  up  with  equal  resonance 
against  the  doors  on  the  other  side,  the  stewards  mean- 
time being  harassed  beyond  measure  to  recover  their 
scudding  cups  and  saucers. 

In  the  morning  of  our  arrival  off  Samos  we  found 
ourselves  moving  along  on  an  even  keel,  under  the 
lee  of  that  extensive  island   and   close  also  to  the 


288     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

shores  of  Asia  Minor,  the  famous  promontory  of 
Mykale  looming  large  and  blue  ahead.  We  coasted 
along  the  Samian  shore,  close  enough  to  distinguish 
even  from  a  distance  the  ruins  of  the  once  famous 
Herseum,  which  was  among  the  objects  of  our  visit. 
It  was  marked  from  afar  by  a  single  gleaming  col- 
umn, rising  apparently  from  the  beach.  For  the  pre- 
sent we  passed  it  by,  the  ship  heading  for  the  little 
white  town  farther  ahead  and  just  opposite  the  bay 
made  by  the  great  bulk  of  Mykale.  It  was  historic 
ground,  for  it  was  at  Mykale  that  the  pursuing 
Greeks,  under  Leotychides  and  Xantippus,  made  the 
final  quietus  of  the  Persian  army  and  navy  in  the 
year  479  B.  C,  just  after  Salamis,  by  the  final  defeat 
of  Tigranes.  Mykale,  however,  we  viewed  only  from 
afar.  The  ship  rounded  the  mole  protecting  the  har- 
bor of  what  was  once  the  chief  city  of  Samos,  and 
came  to  anchor  for  the  first  time  in  Turkish  waters. 
While  the  necessary  ofBcial  visits  and  examination 
of  passports  were  being  made,  there  was  abundant 
opportunity  to  inspect  the  port  from  the  deck.  It  lay 
at  the  base  of  a  rugged  mountain,  and  the  buildings 
of  the  city  lined  the  diminutive  harbor  on  two  sides, 
curving  along  a  low  quay.  In  general  appearance 
the  town  recalled  Canea,  in  Crete,  by  the  whiteness 
of  its  houses  and  the  pale  greenness  of  its  shutters 
and  the  occasional  slender  tower  of  a  mosque.  Tech- 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  289 

nically  Samos  is  a  Turkish  island.  Practically  it  is  so 
only  in  the  sense  that  it  pays  an  annual  tribute  to 
the  Sultan  and  that  its  Greek  governor  is  nominated 
by  that  monarch.  It  was  sufficiently  Turkish,  in  any 
event,  to  require  passports  and  the  official  call  of  a 
tiny  skiff  flying  the  crescent  flag  and  bearing  a  re- 
splendent local  officer  crowned  with  a  red  fez.  The 
formalities  were  all  arranged  by  proxy  ashore,  and  in 
due  time  the  ship's  boat  returned,  bearing  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  and  a  limited  supply  of  Samian  cigar- 
ettes, which  retailed  at  the  modest  sum  of  a  franc  and 
a  half  the  hundred. 

Herodotus  devotes  a  considerable  space  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Samians  in  the  time  of  the  Persian  supre- 
macy and  especially  to  the  deeds  of  the  tyrant  Poly- 
crates,  who  seized  the  power  of  the  island  and  proved 
a  prosperous  ruler.  In  fact  the  rampant  successes  of 
Polycrates  alarmed  his  friend  and  ally,  King  Amasis 
of  Egypt,  who  had  the  wholesome  dread  of  the  an- 
cients for  the  "jealousy"  of  the  gods ;  and  in  conse- 
quence Amasis  sent  a  messenger  up  to  Samos  to  tell 
Polycrates  that  he  was  too  successful  for  his  own  good. 
Amasis  was  afraid,  according  to  the  messenger,  that 
some  evil  would  overtake  the  Samian  ruler,  and  he 
advised  Polycrates  to  cast  away  whatever  thing  he 
valued  the  most  as  a  propitiation  of  the  gods.  The 
advice  so  impressed  Polycrates  that  he  recounted  his 


290     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

possessions,  selected  a  certain  emerald  seal-ring  that 
he  cherished  exceedingly,  took  it  aboard  a  fifty-oared 
galley  and,  when  sufficiently  far  out  at  sea,  hurled  the 
treasured  ring  into  the  water.  Whereat  he  returned 
content  that  he  had  appeased  the  presumably  jealous 
gods.  In  less  than  a  week  a  fisherman,  who  had  taken 
an  unusually  beautiful  fish  in  those  waters,  presented 
it  as  a  great  honor  to  Polycrates,  and  in  dressing  it 
for  the  table  the  servants  found  in  its  belly  the  ring 
that  Polycrates  had  tried  so  hard  to  cast  away !  The 
event  was  held  to  be  superhuman,  and  an  account  of 
it  was  promptly  sent  to  Amasis  in  Egypt.  He,  how- 
ever, judging  from  it  that  Polycrates  was  inevitably 
doomed  by  heaven,  ended  his  alliance  with  Samos  on 
the  naive  plea  that  he  should  be  sorry  to  have  anything 
happen  to  a  friend,  and  therefore  proposed  to  make  of 
Polycrates  an  enemy,  that  he  need  not  grieve  when 
misfortune  overtook  him  1  Misfortune  did  indeed  over- 
take Polycrates,  and  Herodotus  describes  at  some 
length  how  it  occurred,  ending  his  discourse  with  the 
remark  that  he  feels  justified  in  dealing  at  such  length 
with  the  affairs  of  the  Samians  because  they  have  ac- 
complished "  three  works,  the  greatest  that  have  been 
achieved  by  all  the  Greeks.  The  first  is  of  a  mountain, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  orgyiae  in  height,  in  which  is  dug 
a  tunnel  beginning  at  the  base  and  having  an  open- 
ing at  either  side  of  the  mountain.  The  length  of  the 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  291 

tunnel  is  seven  stadia,  and  the  height  and  breadth  are 
eight  feet  respectively.  Through  the  whole  length  of 
the  tunnel  runs  another  excavation  three  feet  wide  and 
twenty  cubits  deep,  through  which  cutting  the  water, 
conveyed  by  pipes,  reaches  the  city,  being  drawn  from 
a  copious  fount  on  the  farther  side  of  the  mountain. 
The  architect  of  this  excavation  was  a  Megarian,  Eu- 
palinus  the  son  of  Naustrophus.  This,  then,  is  one 
of  the  three  great  works.  The  second  is  a  mound 
in  the  sea  around  the  harbor,  in  depth  about  a  hun- 
dred orgyiae  and  in  length  about  two  stadia.  The 
third  work  of  theirs  is  a  great  temple,  the  largest  we 
ever  have  seen,  of  which  the  architect  was  Rhoecus, 
son  of  Phileos,  a  native  Samian.  On  account  of  these 
things  I  have  dwelt  longer  on  the  affairs  of  the 
Samians."  ^ 

It  was,  then,  inside  this  mole,  two  stadia  in  length, 
that  we  were  anchored.  Doubtless  the  modern  mole  is 
still  standing  on  the  ancient  foundation,  but  it  would 
not  be  considered  anything  remarkable  in  the  way  of 
engineering  to-day,  whatever  it  may  have  been  deemed 
in  the  childhood  of  the  race.  Something  in  the  air  of 
Samos  must  have  bred  a  race  of  natural  engineers, 
no  doubt,  for  not  only  were  these  artificial  wonders 
constructed  there,  but  Pythagoras,  the  mathematical 
philosopher,  was  born  in  the  island. 

'  Herodotus,  Book  III,  section  60. 


292     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

From  the  city  up  to  the  remnants  of  the  ancient 
aqueduct  in  the  mountain  is  not  a  difficult  climb,  and 
the  tunnel  itself  affords  a  great  many  points  of  interest. 
In  an  age  when  tunneling  was  not  a  common  or  well- 
understood  art,  it  must  indeed  have  seemed  a  great 
wonder  that  theSamians  were  able  to  pierce  the  bowels 
of  this  considerable  rocky  height  to  get  a  water  supply 
that  could  not  be  cut  off.  The  source  of  the  flowage 
was  a  spring  located  in  the  valley  on  the  side  of  the 
mountain  away  from  the  town,  and  it  would  have  been 
perfectly  possible  to  convey  the  water  to  the  city  with- 
out any  tunnel  at  all,  merely  by  following  the  valley 
around.  For  some  reason  this  was  deemed  inexpedient 
—  doubtless  because  of  the  evident  chance  an  enemy 
would  have  for  cutting  off  the  supply.  The  obvious 
question  is,  what  was  gained  by  making  the  tunnel, 
since  the  spring  itself  was  in  the  open  and  could  have 
been  stopped  as  readily  as  an  open  aqueduct?  And  the 
only  answer  that  has  been  suggested  is  that  the  spring 
alone  is  so  concealed  and  so  difficult  to  find  that,  even 
with  the  clue  given  by  Herodotus,  it  was  next  to  impos- 
sible to  locate  it.  And  in  order  to  conceal  the  source 
still  further,  the  burial  of  the  conduit  in  the  heart  of  the 
mountain  certainly  contributed  not  a  little.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  a  fact  that  the  farther  end  of  the  tunnel  was 
discovered  some  years  ago  by  tracing  a  line  from  the 
site  of  this  spring,  so  that  now  the  aqueduct  has  been 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  293 

relocated  and  is  found  to  be  substantially  as  described 
by  Herodotus  in  the  passage  quoted. 

Most  visitors,  possessed  of  comparatively  limited 
time  like  ourselves,  are  content  with  inspecting  only 
the  town  end  of  the  tunnel,  which  lies  up  in  the  side 
of  the  mountain.  It  is  amply  large  enough  to  enter, 
but  tapers  are  needed  to  give  light  to  the  feet  as  one 
walks  carefully,  and  often  sidewise,  along  the  ledge 
that  borders  the  deeper  cutting  below,  in  which  once 
ran  the  actual  water  pipes.  The  depth  of  the  latter, 
which  Herodotus  calls  "  twenty  cubits,"  is  consider- 
ably greater  at  this  end  of  the  tunnel  than  at  the 
other,  —  a  fact  which  is  apparently  accounted  for  by 
the  necessity  of  correcting  errors  of  level,  after  the 
tunnel  was  finished,  to  give  sufficient  pitch  to  carry 
the  water  down.  In  those  primitive  days  it  is  not 
surprising  that  such  an  error  was  made.  There  is 
evidence  that  the  tunnel  was  dug  by  two  parties 
working  from  opposite  ends,  as  is  the  custom  to-day. 
That  they  met  in  the  centre  of  the  mountain  with 
such  general  accuracy  speaks  well  for  the  engineer- 
ing skill  of  the  time,  and  that  they  allowed  too  little 
for  the  drop  of  the  stream  is  not  at  all  strange.  The 
result  of  this  is  that,  in  the  end  commonly  visited 
by  travelers,  there  is  need  of  caution  lest  the  unwary 
slip  from  the  narrow  ledge  at  the  side  into  the  sup- 
plementary cut  thirty  feet  below  —  a  fall  not  to  be 


294    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

despised,  either  because  of  its  chance  of  injury  or 
because  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  the  victim  out 
again.  So  much,  as  Herodotus  would  say,  for  the 
water-conduit  of  the  Samians. 

From  the  tunnel  down  to  the  ancient  Heraeum, 
whither  our  ship  had  sailed  to  await  us,  proved  to 
be  a  walk  of  something  over  two  miles  along  a  curv- 
ing beach,  across  which  occasional  streams  made 
their  shallow  way  from  inland  to  the  sea.  It  was  a 
pleasant  walk,  despite  occasional  stony  stretches  ;  for 
the  rugged  mountain  chain  inland  presented  con- 
stantly changing  views  on  the  one  hand,  while  on 
the  other,  across  the  deep  blue  of  the  ^gean,  rose 
the  commanding  heights  of  Asia  Minor,  stretching 
away  from  the  neighboring  Mykale  to  the  distant, 
and  still  snow-crowned,  peaks  of  the  Latmian  range. 
Under  the  morning  sun  the  prospect  was  indescrib- 
ably lovely,  particularly  across  the  sea  to  the  bold 
coasts  of  Asia,  the  remote  mountains  being  revealed 
in  that  delicate  chiaroscuro  which  so  often  attends 
white  peaks  against  the  blue.  Ahead  was  always  the 
solitary  column  which  is  all  that  remains  standing  of 
the  once  vast  temple  of  Hera,  "  the  largest  we  ever 
have  seen,"  according  to  the  ingenuous  and  truthful 
Herodotus. 

There  is  a  reason  for  holding  the  spot  in  an  espe- 
cial manner  sacred  to  Hera,  for  it  is  said  by  legend 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  295 

that  she  was  born  on  the  banks  of  one  of  the  little 
streams  whose  waters  we  splashed  through  in  cross- 
ing the  beach  to  her  shrine.  The  temple  itself  we 
found  to  lie  far  back  from  the  water's  edge,  its  founda- 
tions so  buried  in  the  deposited  earth  that  consider- 
able excavation  has  been  necessary  to  reveal  them. 
The  one  remaining  column  is  not  complete,  but  is 
still  fairly  lofty.  It  bears  no  capital,  and  its  drums 
are  slightly  jostled  out  of  place,  so  that  it  has  a  rather 
unfinished  look,  to  which  its  lack  of  fluting  contrib- 
utes ;  for,  as  even  the  amateur  knows,  the  fluting  of 
Greek  columns  was  never  put  on  until  the  whole  pil- 
lar was  set  up,  and  every  joint  of  it  ground  so  fine 
as  to  be  invisible.  We  walked  up  to  the  ruin  through 
the  inevitable  cutting,  in  which  lay  the  inevitable  nar- 
row-gauge track  for  the  excavator's  cars,  but  there 
was  no  activity  to  be  seen.  The  excavation  had  pro- 
gressed so  far  as  to  leave  little  more  to  be  done,  or 
there  was  no  more  money,  or  something  had  inter- 
vened to  put  an  end  to  the  operations  for  the  time. 
Not  far  away,  however,  along  the  beach,  lay  a  few 
houses,  which  constituted  the  habitation  of  the  dig- 
gers and  of  a  few  fishermen,  whose  seine  boats  were 
being  warped  up  as  we  passed. 

The  exploration  of  the  great  temple  of  Hera  has  re- 
vealed the  not  unusual  fact  that  there  had  been  two 
temples  on  the  same  spot  at  successive  periods.  They 


296    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

were  not  identical  in  location,  but  the  later  overlapped 
the  earlier,  traces  of  the  latter  being  confined  to  its 
lowest  foundation  stones.  Of  the  ruins  of  the  later 
temple  there  was  but  slightly  more  visible,  save  for 
the  one  standing  column  and  a  multitude  of  drums, 
capitals,  and  bases  lying  about.  The  latter  were  of  a 
type  we  had  not  previously  seen.  They  were  huge  loz- 
enges of  marble  ornamented  with  horizontal  grooves 
and  resembling  nothing  so  much  as  great  cable  drums 
partially  wound  —  the  effect  of  a  multitude  of  narrow 
grooves  in  a  slightly  concave  trough  around  the  col- 
umn. They  were  of  a  noticeable  whiteness,  for  the 
marble  of  which  this  temple  was  composed  was  not 
so  rich  in  mineral  substances  as  the  Pentelic,  and 
gave  none  of  that  golden  brown  effect  so  familiar  in 
the  Athenian  temples. 

It  was  in  this  great  Heraeum,  which  in  size  rivaled 
the  great  temples  at  Ephesus  and  at  Branchidse,  that 
the  Samians  deposited  the  brazen  bowl  filched  from 
the  Spartans,  of  which  the  ancients  made  so  much. 
It  appears  that  because  of  Croesus  having  sought  an 
alliance  with  Lacedsemonia,  the  inhabitants  of  that 
land  desired  to  return  the  compliment  by  sending  him 
a  present.  They  caused  a  huge  brass  bowl  to  be  made, 
adorned  with  many  figures  and  capable  of  holding 
three  hundred  amphorae.  This  they  dispatched  to 
Sardis.  But  as  the  ship  bearing  it  was  passing  Samos 


COLUMN    BASES.     SAMOS 


CAK\  Kl)    (  UlA  MN-J;AS1..      1!RA.\(.  lIlD.h 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  297 

on  her  way,  the  Samians  came  out  in  force,  seized  the 
ship,  and  carried  the  great  bowl  off  to  the  temple, 
where  it  was  consecrated  to  the  uses  of  the  goddess. 
That  the  Samians  stole  it  thus  was  of  course  indig- 
nantly denied, —  the  islanders  retorting  that  the  bowl 
was  sold  them  by  the  Spartans  when  they  discovered 
that  Crcesus  had  fallen  before  Cyrus  and  was  no 
longer  an  ally  to  be  desired.  No  trace  of  any  such 
relic  of  course  is  to  be  seen  there  now.  In  fact  there 
is  very  little  to  recall  the  former  greatness  of  the  place 
but  the  silent  and  lonely  column  and  a  ven,^  diminutive 
museum  standing  near  the  beach,  which  contains  dis- 
appointingly little.  It  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no  more 
than  a  dark  shed,  similar  in  appearance  to  the  rest 
of  the  houses  of  the  hamlet. 

The  steamer  was  waiting  near  by  in  the  sheltered 
waters  of  the  sound,  and  as  we  were  desirous  of  visit- 
ing the  temple  at  Branchidae  that  same  afternoon, 
we  left  Samos  and  continued  our  voyage.  Under 
that  wonderfully  clear  sky  the  beauty  of  both  shores 
was  indescribable.  The  Asian  coast,  toward  which  we 
now  bore  our  way,  was,  however,  the  grander  of  the 
two,  with  its  foreground  of  plains  and  meadows  and 
its  magnificent  background  of  imposing  mountains 
stretching  far  into  the  interior  and  losing  themselves 
in  the  unimagined  distances  beyond.  The  sun-kissed 
ripples  of  the  sea  were  of  that  incredible  blue  that  one 


298    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

never  ceases  to  marvel  at  in  the  Mediterranean,  and 
it  was  the  sudden  change  from  this  color  to  a  well- 
defined  area  of  muddy  yellow  in  the  waters  through 
which  we  glided  that  called  attention  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Mseander  on  the  shore.  That  proverbially 
crooked  and  winding  stream  discharges  so  large  a 
bulk  of  soil  in  projecting  itself  into  the  sea  that  the 
surface  is  discolored  for  a  considerable  distance  off 
shore ;  and  through  this  our  steamer  took  her  way, 
always  nearing  the  low-lying  beach,  until  we  descried 
a  projecting  headland,  and  rounded  it  into  waters  as 
calm  as  those  of  a  pond.  Here  we  dropped  anchor 
and  once  again  proceeded  to  the  land,  setting  our 
feet  for  the  first  time  on  the  shores  of  Asia. 

Samos  was,  of  course,  still  to  be  seen  to  the  north- 
west, like  a  dark  blue  cloud  rising  from  a  tossing  sea. 
Before  us,  glowing  in  the  afternoon  sun,  stretched  a 
long  expanse  of  open  seashore  meadow,  undulating 
here  and  there,  almost  devoid  of  trees,  but  thickly 
covered  with  tracts  of  shrubs  and  bushes,  through 
which  we  pushed  our  way  until  we  came  upon  an 
isolated  farmhouse  and  a  path  leading  off  over  the 
moor.  It  was  a  mere  cart-track  through  the  green  of 
the  fields,  leading  toward  a  distant  hillock,  on  which 
we  could  from  afar  make  out  the  slowly  waving  arms 
of  windmills  and  indications  of  a  small  town.  None 
of  the  many  rambles  we  took  in  the  Greek  islands 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  299 

surpassed  this  two-mile  walk  for  pure  pleasure.  The 
air  was  balmy  yet  cool.  The  fields  were  spangled 
with  flowers,  —  wild  orchids,  iris,  gladioli,  and  many 
others.  There  were  no  gray  hills,  save  so  far  in  the 
distance  that  they  had  become  purple  and  had  lost 
their  bareness.  All  around  was  a  deserted  yet  plea- 
sant and  pastoral  country — deserving,  none  the  less, 
the  general  name  of  moor. 

What  few  people  we  met  on  the  way  were  farmers 
and  shepherds,  leading  pastoral  lives  in  the  little  brush 
wigwams  so  common  in  Greek  uplands  in  the  sum- 
mer months.  They  gave  us  the  usual  cheerful  good- 
day,  and  looked  after  our  invading  host  with  wonder- 
ing eyes  as  we  streamed  off  over  the  rolling  country 
in  the  general  direction  of  Branchidae. 

That  ancient  site  appeared  at  last  on  a  hillock  over- 
looking the  ocean.  A  small  and  mean  hamlet  had 
largely  swallowed  up  the  immediate  environs  of  the 
famous  temple  that  once  stood  there,  contrasting 
strangely  with  the  remaining  columns  that  soon  came 
into  view  over  the  roofs,  as  we  drew  near,  attended 
by  an  increasing  army  of  the  youth.  The  name  of 
the  little  modern  village  on  the  spot  we  never  knew. 
Anciently  this  was  the  site  of  the  temple  of  Apollo 
Didymeus,  erected  by  the  Branchidae,  —  a  clan  of  the 
neighborhood  of  ancient  Miletus  who  claimed  descent 
from  Branchus.  The  temple  of  Apollo  which  had  for- 


300    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

merly  stood  upon  the  site  was  destroyed  in  some  way 
in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  and  the  Branchidse 
set  out  to  erect  a  shrine  that  they  boasted  should  rival 
the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus  in  size  and  in  orna- 
mentation. Nor  was  this  an  inappropriate  desire,  since 
Apollo  and  Diana  —  or  Artemis,  as  we  ought  to  call 
her  —  were  twins,  whence  indeed  the  name  "  Didy- 
meus  "  was  applied  to  the  temple  on  the  spot.  Un- 
fortunately the  great  temple  which  the  Branchidae 
designed  was  never  completed,  simply  because  of  the 
vastness  of  the  plan.  Before  the  work  was  done, 
Apollo  had  ceased  to  be  so  general  an  object  of  ven- 
eration, and  what  had  been  planned  to  be  his  most 
notable  shrine  fell  into  gradual  ruin  and  decay. 

It  has  not  been  sufficient,  however,  to  destroy  the 
beauty  of  much  that  the  Branchidae  accomplished 
during  the  centuries  that  the  work  was  progressing, 
for  it  is  stated  that  several  hundred  years  were  spent 
in  adorning  the  site.  The  fact  that  one  of  the  few 
columns  still  standing  and  still  bearing  its  crowning 
capital  is  unfluted  bears  silent  testimony  to  the  fact 
that  the  temple  never  was  completed.  Of  the  finished 
columns  it  is  impossible  to  overstate  their  grace  and 
lightness  or  the  elegance  of  the  carving  on  their  bases, 
which  apparently  were  designed  to  be  different  one 
from  another.  The  pillars  that  remain  are  of  great 
height  and  remarkable  slenderness.  Nineteen  drums 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  301 

were  employed  in  building  them.  The  bases,  of  which 
many  are  to  be  seen  lying  about,  and  some  in  situ, 
display  the  most  delicate  tracery  and  carving  im- 
aginable, some  being  adorned  with  round  bands  of 
relief,  and  others  divided  into  facets,  making  the  base 
dodecagonal  instead  of  round,  each  panel  bearing  a 
different  and  highly  ornate  design.  Close  by  we  found 
the  remains  of  a  huge  stone  face,  or  mask,  apparently 
designed  as  a  portion  of  the  adornment  of  the  cornice 
and  presumably  one  of  the  metopes  of  the  temple. 

The  mass  of  debris  of  the  great  structure  has  been 
heaped  up  for  so  long  that  a  sort  of  conical  hill  rises 
in  the  midst  of  it ;  and  on  this  has  been  built  a  tower 
from  which  one  may  look  down  on  the  ground  plan 
so  far  as  it  remains.  The  major  part  of  the  ruin, 
however,  is  at  its  eastern  end,  the  front,  presumably, 
where  the  only  standing  columns  are  to  be  seen,  ris- 
ing gracefully  from  a  terrace  which  has  been  care- 
fully uncovered  by  the  explorers.  Enough  remains 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  immense  size  projected  for  the 
building,  and  better  still  enough  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  elegance  with  which  the  ancients  proposed 
to  adorn  it,  that  the  Ephesians  need  not  eclipse  the 
Milesians  in  honoring  the  twin  gods.  Of  the  rows  of 
statues  that  once  lined  the  road  from  the  sea  to  the 
shrine,  one  is  to  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum  —  a 
curious  sitting  colossus  of  quaintly  archaic  workman- 


302    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

ship,  and  somewhat  suggestive,  to  my  own  mind,  of 
an  Egyptian  influence  in  the  squat  modeling  of  the 
figure. 

As  one  might  expect  of  a  shrine  sacred  to  Apollo, 
there  seems  to  have  been  an  oracle  of  some  repute 
here;  for  Crcesus,  who  was  credulous  in  the  extreme 
where  oracles  were  concerned,  sent  hither  for  advice 
on  various  occasions,  and  dedicated  a  treasure  here 
that  was  similar  to  the  great  wealth  he  bestowed 
upon  the  shrine  at  Delphi.  Furthermore  one  Neco, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  digging  a  canal  to  connect 
the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea, — a  prototype  of  the  Suez, 
—  dedicated  the  clothes  he  wore  during  that  period 
to  the  god  at  the  temple  of  the  Branchidae.  Thus 
while  the  site  never  attained  the  fame  among  Gre- 
cians that  was  accorded  the  Delphian,  it  nevertheless 
seems  to  have  inspired  a  great  deal  of  reverence 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor  and  even  of 
Egypt,  which  may  easily  account  for  the  elaborate 
care  the  Branchidae  proposed  to  bestow  and  did 
bestow  upon  it. 

Our  inspection  of  the  temple  and  the  surrounding 
town  was  the  source  of  immense  interest  upon  the  part 
of  the  infantile  population,  of  which  the  number  is  enor- 
mous. The  entire  pit  around  the  excavations  was  lined 
three  deep  with  boys  and  girls,  the  oldest  not  over 
fifteen,  who  surveyed  our  party  with  open-mouthed 


SAMOS  AND  BRANCHID^  303 

amazement.  They  escorted  us  to  the  city  gates,  and 
a  small  detachment  accompanied  us  on  the  way  back 
over  the  moor  to  the  landing,  hauling  a  protesting 
bear-cub,  whose  mother  had  been  shot  the  week  be- 
fore somewhere  in  the  mountains  of  Latmos  by  some 
modern  Nimrod,  and  whose  wails  indicated  the  pre- 
sence of  a  capable  pair  of  lungs  in  his  small  and  furry 
body.  He  was  taken  aboard  and  became  the  ship's 
pet  forthwith,  seemingly  content  with  his  lot  and  de- 
cidedly partial  to  sweetmeats. 

The  walk  back  over  that  vast  and  silent  meadow  in 
the  twilight  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten.  There  was 
something  mystical  in  the  deserted  plain,  in  the  clumps 
of  bushes  taking  on  strange  shapes  in  the  growing 
dusk,  in  the  great  orb  of  the  moon  rising  over  the  ser- 
rated tops  of  the  distant  mountains  of  the  interior  — 
and  last,  but  not  least,  in  the  roaring  fire  which  the 
boatmen  had  kindled  on  the  rocks  to  indicate  the  land- 
ing place  as  the  dark  drew  on.  We  pushed  off,  three 
boatloads  of  tired  but  happy  voyagers,  leaving  the  fire 
leaping  and  crackling  on  the  shore,  illuminating  with 
a  red  glare  the  rugged  rocks,  and  casting  gigantic  and 
awful  shadows  on  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  XVI.     COS  AND  CNIDOS 


,,   '^w^j,^^     .       ...     ..  ,\n_.     -•TN — J»»»-- 

'A 

1^ 

- 

1 

FROM  the  little  harbor  where  we  had  found  shelter 
for  our  landing  to  visit  Branchidae  it  proved  but 
a  few  hours'  steaming  to  Cos,  which  was  scheduled  as 
our  next  stopping  place.  Like  Samos,  Cos  lies  close 
to  the  Asia  Minor  shore.  The  chief  city,  which  bears 
the  same  name  as  the  island,  unchanged  from  ancient 
times,  proved  to  be  a  formidable  looking  place  by  rea- 
son of  its  great  walls  and  moles,  recalling  the  Cretan 
cities  much  more  forcibly  than  the  Samos  town  had 
done  ;  for  the  yellowish-white  fortresses  which  flank 
the  narrow  inner  harbor  of  Cos  resemble  both  in  color 
and  architecture  the  outworks  that  were  thrown  up  to 
protect  the  ports  of  Candia  and  Canea.  Later  in  the 
day  it  was  borne  in  upon  us  that  these  walls  were  by 
no  means  uncommon  in  the  vicinity,  and  that  they  bore 
witness  to  the  visits  of  the  Crusaders ;  for  the  great 
walls  and  castle  at  Halicarnassus  not  far  away  were 
very  similar  to  the  forts  of  Cos,  and  with  the  best  of 
reasons,  since  they  were  the  work  of  the  same  hands, 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  305 

—  of  the  so-called  "Knights  of  Rhodes,"  who  once 
settled  in  these  regions  and  built  strongholds  that  for 
those  times  were  impregnable  enough.  Our  next  day 
or  two  brought  us  often  in  contact  with  the  relics  of 
these  stout  old  knights,  who  were  variously  known  as 
of  Rhodes,  or  of  St.  John,  and,  last  of  all,  of  Malta. 
As  far  as  Cos  was  concerned,  the  knightly  fortress  was 
chiefly  remarkable  from  the  water,  as  we  steamed  past 
the  frowning  battlements  of  buff  and  dropped  anchor 
in  the  open  roadstead  before  the  city ;  for,  as  is  gen- 
erally the  case  with  these  old  towns,  there  is  at  Cos  no 
actual  harborage  for  a  steamer  of  modern  draught, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  case  anciently  when 
ships  were  small. 

The  morning  sun  revealed  the  city  itself  spreading 
out  behind  the  fortress,  in  a  great  splash  of  dazzling 
white  amidst  the  green  of  the  island  verdure,  its  domes 
and  minarets  interspersed  with  the  tops  of  waving 
trees.  Behind  the  city,  the  land  rose  gradually  to  the 
base  of  a  long  range  of  green  hills  stretching  off  to  the 
southward  and  into  the  interior  of  the  island.  It  was 
easily  the  most  fertile  and  agreeable  land  we  had  yet 
encountered  in  our  ^gean  pilgrimage,  and  so  lovely 
that  we  almost  forgot  that  it  was  Turkish  and  that  we 
had  been  warned  not  to  separate  far  from  one  another 
on  going  ashore  for  fear  of  complications  and  loss  of 
the  road.  However  it  was  Turkish,  this  time,  pure  and 


3o6    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

unadulterated,  and  the  examination  of  our  papers  and 
passports  was  no  idle  formality,  but  was  performed 
with  owl-like  solemnity  by  a  local  dignitary  black- 
mustachioed  and  red-fezzed.  While  this  was  pro- 
ceeding the  members  of  our  party  stood  huddled  be- 
hind a  wicket  gate  barring  egress  from  the  landing 
stage  and  speculated  on  the  probability  of  being  haled 
to  the  dungeons,  which  might  easily  be  imagined  as 
damp  and  gloomy  behind  the  neighboring  yellow 
walls  of  stone. 

The  Sultan's  representative  being  fully  satisfied 
that  we  might  safely  be  permitted  to  enter  the  island, 
the  gate  was  thrown  back,  and  in  a  quaking  body  we 
departed  through  a  stone  arcade  in  which  our  feet 
echoed  and  reechoed  valiantly,  past  rows  of  natives 
sipping  coffee  and  smoking  the  nargileh  in  the  shade, 
and  thence  through  a  stone  archway  into  a  spacious 
public  square,  paved  with  cobble-stones  and  domi- 
nated by  the  most  gigantic  and  venerable  plane  tree 
imaginable.  Its  enormous  trunk  stood  full  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  square,  rising  from  a  sort  of  stone  dais,  in 
the  sides  of  which  were  dripping  stone  fountains, 
deeply  incrusted  with  the  green  mildew  of  age.  Over- 
head, even  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  square,  the 
branches  spread  a  curtain  of  fresh  green  leaves.  They 
were  marvelous  branches  —  great,  gnarled,  twisted 
limbs,  that  were  as  large  in  themselves  as  the  trunk  of 


TREE    OF    HIPPOCRATES.     COS 


i 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  307 

a  very  respectable  tree,  and  shored  up  with  a  forest 
of  poles.  Actual  measurement  of  the  circumference  of 
the  trunk  itself  revealed  it  to  be  something  over  forty- 
feet  in  girth,  and  it  was  not  difificult  to  believe  the  le- 
gend that  this  impressive  tree  really  did  date  back  to 
the  time  of  Hippocrates,  the  great  physician  of  Cos, 
who  was  born  in  the  island  long  before  the  dawn  of 
the  Christian  era.  In  any  event,  the  great  plane  of  Cos 
is  called  to  this  day  the  "  tree  of  Hippocrates,"  whether 
it  has  any  real  connection  with  that  eminent  father  of 
medicine  or  not. 

We  left  the  shady  square  by  a  narrow  and  roughly 
paved  street,  little  wider  than  an  alley  and  lined  with 
whitewashed  houses,  closely  set.  It  wound  aimlessly 
along  through  the  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  city, 
and  at  last  opened  out  into  the  country-side,  where 
the  houses  grew  fewer  and  other  splendid  trees  became 
more  numerous,  generally  shading  wayside  fountains, 
beside  which  crouched  veiled  native  women  gossip- 
ing over  their  water-jars.  A  pair  of  baggy-trousered 
soldiers  went  with  us  on  the  road,  partly  as  overseers, 
no  doubt,  but  chiefly  as  guides  and  protectors  —  the 
latter  office  proving  quite  needless  save  for  the  occa- 
sional expert  kicking  of  a  barking  cur  from  some 
wayside  hovel.  They  proved  to  be  a  friendly  pair, 
although  of  course  conversation  with  them  was  im- 
possible, and  a  lively  exchange  of  cigarettes  and  to- 


3oS    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

bacco  was  kept  up  as  we  walked  briskly  along  out  of 
the  city  and  into  the  open  country  that  lay  toward 
the  hills.  Their  chief  curiosity  was  a  kind  of  inex- 
tinguishable match,  which  proved  exceedingly  useful 
for  smokers  bothered  by  the  lively  morning  breeze. 
They  were  flat  matches,  seemingly  made  of  rude 
brown  paper  such  as  butchers  at  home  used  to  em- 
ploy for  wrapping  up  raw  meat.  The  edges  were  ser- 
rated, and  when  once  the  match  was  lighted  it  burned 
without  apparent  flame  and  with  but  little  smoke  until 
the  entire  fabric  was  consumed. 

The  object  of  this  walk,  which  proved  to  be  of  some- 
thing like  three  or  four  miles  into  the  suburbs  of 
Cos,  was  to  view  the  remnants  of  the  famous  health 
temple,  sacred,  of  course,  to  Asklepios.  We  found  it 
situated  on  an  elevation  looking  down  across  a  smil- 
ing plain  to  the  sea,  with  the  white  walls  and  roofs 
of  Cos  a  trifle  to  one  side.  It  was  not  a  prospect  to 
be  forgotten.  It  was  a  bright  day,  but  with  sufficient 
haze  in  the  air  to  give  to  the  other  islands  visible 
across  the  intervening  water  an  amethystine  quality, 
and  to  make  the  distant  summits  in  Asia  Minor  faint 
and  ethereal.  The  nearer  green  of  the  fields,  the 
purple  of  the  sea,  and  the  delicate  hues  of  the  islands 
and  far-away  peaks,  held  us  for  a  long  time  before 
turning  to  the  curious  ruin  of  the  temple,  which,  as 
usual,  was  less  a  temple  than  a  hospital. 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  309 

Little  remains  of  it,  save  for  the  foundations.  Three 
enormous  terraces,  faced  with  flights  of  steps  of  easy 
grade,  led  up  to  the  main  sanctuary  of  the  god,  com- 
paratively little  of  which  remains  to  be  seen.  Various 
smaller  buildings,  shrines  for  allied  divinities,  porticoes 
for  the  sick,  apartments  for  the  priests,  treasuries  and 
the  like,  are  readily  distinguishable,  and  serve  to  re- 
veal what  an  extensive  establishment  the  health  tem- 
ple was  in  its  time.  Restorations  of  it,  on  paper,  reveal 
it  as  having  been  probably  most  impressive,  both 
architecturally  and  by  reason  of  its  commanding  po- 
sition, which  was  not  only  admirable  by  nature  but 
accentuated  by  the  long  approach  over  the  three  suc- 
cessive terraces  to  the  many-columned  main  building 
above. 

Of  the  numerous  smaller  structures  lying  about  the 
precinct,  the  most  curious  and  interesting  were  the 
subterranean  treasuries  —  if  that  is  the  proper  name 
for  them  —  which  have  been  discovered  at  the  foot 
of  the  slope.  They  apparently  consist  of  vaults  in  the 
earth,  each  covered  over  with  a  massive  stone  slab. 
The  slab  is  removable,  but  only  at  great  pains.  A 
circular  hole  pierces  it  through  the  centre,  suitable  for 
dropping  money  or  other  valuables  into  the  recepta- 
cle beneath  and  for  inserting  the  tackle  with  which 
to  lift  the  rock  when  the  treasury  was  to  be  opened. 
The  vast  weight  of  the  stone  and  the  time  required 


3IO     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

for  raising  it  would  have  been  ample  guarantee 
against  unauthorized  visits  to  the  treasury.  Other 
theories  accounting  for  these  underground  chambers 
and  their  curious  coverings  have  been  advanced  — 
the  most  fantastic  one  being  the  supposition  that  these 
were  the  chambers  devoted  to  housing  the  sacred 
serpents  of  the  god,  the  holes  serving  for  their  emer- 
gence and  for  the  insertion  of  food !  But  while  the 
cult  of  Asklepios  certainly  does  appear  to  have  made 
use  of  the  sacred  snakes  as  a  part  of  its  mummery,  it 
seems  hardly  likely  that  these  subterranean  cavities 
were  used  for  any  such  purpose. 

As  for  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Cos,  it  is  widely 
believed  to  have  been  of  a  sensible  and  even  of  an 
"ethical"  sort,  largely  devoid  of  mere  reliance  on 
idle  superstition  or  religious  formalism  for  its  cura- 
tive effects,  though  unquestionably  employing  these, 
as  was  not  only  the  case  in  ancient  times,  but  as  even 
persists  to-day  in  some  localities  of  the  archipelago. 
The  religious  ceremonies,  which  generally  took  the 
form  of  sleeping  in  the  sacred  precincts  in  the  hope 
of  being  divinely  healed,  appear  to  have  been  sup- 
plemented at  Cos  by  the  employment  of  means  of 
healing  that  were  rudely  scientific.  Hippocrates,  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  Coan  physicians,  has  left  abun- 
dant proof  that  he  was  no  mere  charlatan,  but  a 
common-sense  doctor,  whose  contributions  to  medical 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  311 

science  have  not  by  any  means  entirely  passed  out  of 
esteem.  Reference  has  been  made  hitherto  to  the  cus- 
tom of  depositing  in  the  temple  anatomical  specimens 
representing  the  parts  healed,  as  votive  offerings  from 
grateful  patients  —  a  custom  which  persists  in  the 
modern  Greek  church,  as  everybody  who  examines 
the  altar-screen  of  any  such  church  will  speedily 
discover. 

The  extreme  veneration  of  Asklepios  at  Cos  is 
doubtless  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  Cos  was 
an  Epidaurian  colony ;  for  the  Epidaurians  claimed 
that  the  healing  god  was  born  in  the  hills  overlook- 
ing their  valley  in  the  Peloponnesus.  At  any  rate  the 
health  temple  at  Cos  and  the  great  sanitarium  at  Epi- 
daurus  shared  the  highest  celebrity  in  ancient  times 
as  resorts  for  the  sick ;  and  in  each  case  there  are 
traces  to  show  that  they  were  sites  devoted  not  only 
to  the  worship  of  a  deity,  but  to  the  ministration  unto 
the  ailing  by  physical  means,  as  far  as  such  means 
were  then  understood. 

Cos,  however,  was  far  from  basing  her  sole  claim 
to  ancient  celebrity  on  her  physicians  and  hospitals. 
Her  embroideries  rivaled  the  more  famous  Rhodian 
work,  and  she  was  an  early  home  of  culture  and  re- 
sort of  noted  students,  not  only  of  medicine,  but  of 
rhetoric,  grammar,  poetry,  philosophy,  and  science. 
Ptolemy  II,  otherwise  known  as  Ptolemy  Philadel- 


312    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

phus,  is  known  to  have  studied  here,  and  it  is  not  at 
all  improbable  that  the  Sicilian  poet,  Theocritus,  was 
a  fellow  student  with  him.  For  it  is  known  that  The- 
ocritus was  a  student  at  Cos  at  some  time,  and  he 
was  later  summoned  to  Ptolemy's  Egyptian  court, 
where  he  wTote  the  epithalamium  for  the  unholy  mar- 
riage between  Philadelphus  and  his  sister.  Not  a  lit- 
tle of  the  present  knowledge  of  ancient  Cos  is  due  to 
the  writings  that  Theocritus  left  as  the  result  of  his 
student  days  in  the  island. 

The  curator  of  antiquities  in  charge  of  the  excava- 
tions at  the  Asklepeion  took  us  in  charge  on  our  re- 
turn walk  and  led  us  through  the  city  to  his  own 
home,  where,  although  we  were  on  Turkish  soil,  we 
had  a  taste  of  real  Greek  hospitality.  Our  party  was 
numerous  enough  to  appall  any  unsuspecting  hostess, 
but  we  were  ushered  into  the  great  upper  room  of 
the  house,  with  no  trace  of  dismay  on  the  part  of  the 
wife  and  daughter.  It  was  a  huge  room,  scrupulously 
neat  and  clean,  and  the  forty  or  so  included  in  our 
number  found  chairs  ranged  in  line  about  the  apart- 
ment, where  we  sat  at  ease  examining  the  fragments 
that  the  curator  had  to  show  from  the  mass  of  inscrip- 
tions recovered  from  the  temple.  Meantime,  after  the 
national  custom,  the  eldest  daughter  served  refresh- 
ment to  each  in  turn,  consisting  of  preserved. quince, 
glasses  of  mastika,  and  huge  tumblers  of  water.   It 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  313 

was  a  stately  ceremony,  each  helping  himself  gravely 
to  the  quince  from  the  same  dish,  and  sipping  the 
cordial,  while  the  mother  bustled  about  supplying 
fresh  spoons.  And  with  a  general  exchange  of  cards 
and  such  good  wishes  as  were  to  be  expressed  in 
limited  traveler's  Greek,  we  departed  to  the  landing 
and  again  embarked. 

We  designed  to  push  on  to  Cnidos  at  once,  and  to 
climb  the  heights  of  that  ancient  promontory  of  Asia 
Minor  in  the  late  afternoon.  But  inasmuch  as  Hali- 
carnassus,  the  native  city  of  Herodotus,  lay  directly 
on  the  way,  we  sailed  into  its  capacious  harbor  and 
out  again  without  stopping,  for  the  sake  of  such 
glance  at  the  site  as  might  be  had  from  the  water. 
The  bay  on  which  the  city  lies  —  it  is  now  called 
Boudrun — is  wonderfully  beautiful,  running  well  into 
the  mainland,  while  the  city  itself,  with  its  great  white 
castle  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  as  the  central  feature, 
lies  at  the  inmost  end.  Of  the  castle  we  were  able  to 
get  a  very  good  view,  going  close  enough  to  arouse 
the  violent  excitement  of  a  gesticulating  Turkish 
official  who  came  out  in  a  tiny  boat,  bravely  decked 
with  the  crescent  flag,  to  show  us  where  to  anchor  if 
we  so  desired.  The  site  of  the  famous  Mausoleum 
was  pointed  out  from  the  deck,  and  most  of  us  were 
confident  that  we  saw  it,  although  it  was  not  easy  to 
find.   The  remains  of  this  incomparably  magnificent 


314     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

tomb,  designed  for  King  Mausolus,  are,  as  everybody 
knows,  to  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum  to-day. 

It  was  but  a  few  miles  farther  to  the  promontory 
of  Cnidos,  and  we  dropped  anchor  there  in  mid- 
afternoon,  in  one  of  the  double  bays  for  which  the 
ancient  naval  station  was  famous.  The  bays  are  still 
separated  by  a  narrow  isthmus — the  same  which  the 
ancients  tried  in  vain  to  sever.  The  story  goes  that 
the  drilling  of  the  rocks  caused  such  a  flying  of  frag- 
ments as  to  endanger  the  eyes  of  the  workmen,  and 
the  oracle  when  questioned  dissuaded  them  from  con- 
tinuing the  work,  saying  "Zeus  could  have  made  the 
land  an  island  if  he  had  intended  so  to  do."  Hence 
the  two  little  harbors  remain,  one  on  either  side 
of  the  neck  of  land  that  juts  into  the  sea.  They  were 
used  as  anchorage  for  triremes  and  merchant  ships 
respectively,  when  Cnidos  was  a  power  in  the  world. 
To-day  the  spot  is  absolutely  deserted,  and  we  found 
both  the  diminutive  bays  devoid  of  all  trace  of  life, 
until  at  evening  a  passing  fisherman  came  in  and 
made  all  snug  for  the  night. 

Above  the  waters  of  the  harbor  towered  the  com- 
manding rock  of  the  Cnidian  acropolis,  something 
like  twelve  hundred  feet  in  height  —  a  bare  and  for- 
bidding rock,  indeed.  Of  the  town  and  the  temples 
that  once  clustered  along  its  base  nothing  was  to  be 
seen.  Man  has  long  ago  abandoned  this  spot  and  left 


i 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  315 

it  absolutely  untenanted  save  by  memories.  It  was  in 
ancient  times  a  favorite  haunt  of  Aphrodite,  and  three 
temples  did  honor  to  that  goddess  on  the  knolls  above 
the  sea.  Here  also  stood  the  marble  Aphrodite  carved 
by  Praxiteles,  and  esteemed  his  masterpiece  by  many. 
It  was  carried  off  to  Constantinople  centuries  ago,  and 
perished  miserably  in  a  fire  in  that  city  in  1641. 

Our  three  boatloads  landed  with  no  little  difficulty 
on  the  abrupt  rocks  of  the  shore,  being  somewhat  put 
to  it  to  avoid  sundry  submerged  boulders  lying  just 
off  the  land.  It  was  a  sharp  scramble  from  the  water's 
edge  to  the  narrow  and  ascending  shelf  above,  on 
which  the  temples  had  stood.  The  ruins  of  them  lay 
buried  in  tall  grasses  and  in  huge  clumps  of  daisies, 
the  latter  growing  in  the  most  remarkable  profusion. 
With  a  single  sweep  of  the  knife  I  cut  a  prodigious 
armful  of  them,  and  the  dining  saloon  that  night  was 
made  a  perfect  bower  by  the  wild  flowers  that  the  re- 
turning party  brought  back  with  them. 

It  was  one  of  the  days  when  the  non-archaeological 
section  of  the  party  hastily  left  the  remnants  of  an- 
cient greatness  below  and  set  out  precipitately  for  a 
climb,  for  the  prospect  of  a  view  from  the  overshad- 
owing clif^  above  was  promising.  It  proved  the  most 
formidable  ascent  that  we  undertook  in  all  our  ^gean 
cruising.  Anciently  there  was  a  gradual  ascent  by 
means  of  a  zigzag  causeway  to  the  fortified  heights 


3i6     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

above,  but  the  majority  of  us  disregarded  it  and  struck 
off  up  the  steep  toward  the  summit.  It  is  not  a  wise 
plan  for  any  but  hardened  climbers,  for  the  slope  soon 
became  so  sharp  that  it  made  one  giddy  to  look  back 
down  the  mountain,  and  the  footing  was  often  diffi- 
cult because  of  the  shelving  stone  and  fragments  of 
loose  rock.  Small  bushes  were  the  only  growth,  and 
they  were  often  eagerly  seized  upon  to  give  the  need- 
ful purchase  to  lift  us  onward  and  upward.  The  sum- 
mit, however,  amply  rewarded  our  toil.  It  was  easier 
going  toward  the  top,  for  we  found  the  old  road  and 
rose  more  gradually  toward  the  point  where  the  an- 
cient walls  began. 

From  the  pinnacle  of  the  rock  the  sweep  of  the  view 
was  indescribably  fine.  The  sun  was  sinking  rapidly 
to  the  horizon,  illuminating  the  islands  and  the  sea. 
The  wind  had  dropped,  the  haze  had  disappeared,  and 
the  shore  line  of  Asia  Minor  stretched  away,  clear  cut, 
in  either  direction.  We  were  practically  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  peninsula.  The  rugged  headlands 
retreated  to  the  north  and  to  the  east  from  our  feet, 
while  inland  piled  the  impressive  interior  mountains 
rearing  their  snow-capped  heads  against  the  blue 
evening  dusk.  Over  the  ^gean,  dark  blue  and  violet 
islands  rose  from  a  sea  of  molten  gold.  At  our  feet  lay 
the  twin  harbors  and  our  steamer,  looking  like  a  toy 
ship,  the  thin  smoke  of  her  funnel  rising  in  a  blue  wisp 


COS  AND  CNIDOS  317 

into  the  silent  evening  air.  The  fishermen  from  the 
tiny  smack  that  had  sought  a  night's  berth  there  had 
kindled  a  gleaming  fire  on  the  beach.  Along  the  sharp 
spine  of  the  promontory  we  could  see  the  ancient  line 
of  wall,  rising  and  falling  alongthe  summit  and  flanked 
here  and  there  by  ruined  towers  —  a  stupendous  en- 
gineering work  of  a  nation  long  dead.  It  was  all  im- 
pressively silent,  and  deserted  save  for  ourselves.  The 
course  of  empire  had  indeed  taken  its  westward  way 
and  left  once  powerful  Cnidos  a  barren  waste. 

But  the  darkness  coming  suddenly  in  these  latitudes 
at  this  season  warned  us  to  descend  in  haste  to  the 
fire  that  was  signaling  us  from  the  landing,  and  we 
slipped  and  slid  down  the  old  causeway  to  the  boats. 
That  night  the  moon  was  at  the  full,  and  we  sat  late 
on  the  after-deck  enjoying  the  incomparable  brilliancy 
of  the  light  on  sea  and  cliffs,  shining  as  of  old  on  a  time- 
defying  and  rock-bound  coast,  but  on  a  coast  no  longer 
teeming  with  life  and  harbors  no  longer  alive  with 
ships.  And  at  midnight  the  wheezing  of  the  engines 
and  the  jarring  of  the  screw  gave  notice  that  we  were 
slipping  out  of  the  harbor  of  Cnidos  and  out  into  the 
sea,  to  Rhodes. 


CHAPTER  XVII.     RHODES 


IT  was  our  purpose  to  land  on  Rhodes  the  isle,  not 
at  Rhodes  the  town.  To  visit  the  famous  north- 
ern city  where  once  stood  the  Colossus  would  have 
been  highly  agreeable  had  opportunity  presented 
itself;  but  as  it  was  we  planned  to  coast  along  the 
southeasterly  side  of  Rhodes  and  make  our  landing 
at  the  little  less  celebrated  and  probably  even  more 
picturesque  site  of  Lindos.  So  in  the  morning  we 
woke  to  find  our  vessel  rolling  merrily  in  a  cross  sea 
just  off  the  entrance  to  the  little  bay  that  serves  Lin- 
dos for  a  harbor,  —  a  sea  that  stripped  our  breakfast 
table  of  its  few  dishes  and  converted  the  floor  of  the 
saloon  into  a  sea  of  broken  crockery.  The  waters  of 
the  bay  proved  calm  enough  when  we  had  slid  past 
the  imposing  promontory  on  which  stood  the  acro- 
polis of  ancient  Lindos,  and  felt  our  way  across  the 
rapidly  shoaling  waters  to  a  safe  anchorage.  The  wa- 
ter was  of  a  wonderful  clarity  as  well  as  of  remarkable 
blueness,  the  bottom  being  visible  for  many  fathoms 


RHODES  319 

and  seeming  much  more  shoal  than  was  the  case  in 
fact.  We  were  able  to  go  quite  close  to  shore  before 
anchoring,  and  found  ourselves  in  good  shelter 
from  the  wind  that  was  then  blowing,  although  well 
outside  the  tiny  inner  port  which  lay  at  the  foot  of  a 
steep  bluff.  Towering  above  the  whole  town  stood 
the  precipitous  and  seemingly  inaccessible  acropolis, 
its  steep  sides  running  down  to  the  sea,  the  rich 
redness  of  the  rock  contrasting  on  the  one  hand 
with  the  matchless  blue  of  the  yEgean,  and  on  the 
other  with  the  pure  whiteness  of  the  buildings  of 
the  town.  The  summit  of  the  promontory  was 
crowned  with  the  ruin  of  a  castle  of  the  Knights  of 
Rhodes,  who  had  once  made  this  a  famous  strong- 
hold in  the  Middle  Ages.  In  fact  the  residence  of  the 
knights  had  obliterated  the  more  ancient  remnants 
of  the  classic  period,  which  included  a  temple  of 
Athena  ;  and  the  work  of  exhuming  the  Greek  ruins 
from  under  the  debris  of  the  Crusaders'  fortress  was 
only  just  beginning  when  we  landed  there. 

From  the  ship,  the  most  conspicuous  object  on  the 
heights  was  the  ruined  castle  of  St.  John,  the  portal  of 
which,  giving  the  sole  means  of  access  to  the  plateau 
on  top  of  the  promontory,  was  plainly  to  be  seen  as 
we  sailed  in.  It  gave  the  impression  of  yellowish- 
brown  sandstone  from  below,  a  color  which  it  shared 
with  the  goodly  battlements  that  frowned  down  from 


320     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

all  sides  of  the  citadel,  even  where  the  abruptness  of 
the  declivity  for  something  like  three  hundred  feet 
made  battlements  a  seeming  work  of  supererogation. 
Nestling  under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  rock  on  the 
landward  side  lay  the  modern  village  of  Lindos  itself, 
apparently  freshly  whitewashed  and  gleaming  in  the 
sun  wherever  the  rock  failed  to  shelter  it  from  the 
morning  warmth.  It  was  one  of  those  marvelously 
brilliant  days  that  have  made  the  Greek  atmosphere 
so  famous  —  cloudless  and  clear,  with  that  clearness 
that  reveals  distant  objects  so  distinctly,  yet  so  softly 
withal.  As  for  the  nearer  prospects,  they  were  almost 
trying  to  the  eyes,  under  the  forenoon  glare  beating 
down  on  that  immaculate  array  of  close-set  white 
houses  and  shops. 

Our  boats  set  off  shoreward  across  a  placid  sheet  of 
water  that  varied  from  a  deep  indigo  at  the  ship  to 
the  palest  of  greens  as  it  surged  among  the  fringes  of 
slippery  rock  along  the  foot  of  the  bluff.  The  landing 
stage  was  but  a  narrow  shelf  of  pebbly  beach,  from 
which  a  rough  paved  way  led  steeply  up  to  the  town 
just  above  the  sea.  The  contrast  of  the  blue  sky  and 
the  white  purity  of  the  town  was  dazzling  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  the  glare  accounted  in  a  measure  for  the 
veiled  women  and  sore-eyed  children  we  met  in  the 
courtyards  of  the  town.  Our  own  eyes  soon  ached 
sufficiently  to  make  us  walk  in  single  file  along  the 


RHODES  321 

shady  side  of  the  high-walled  streets,  looking  chiefly 
at  the  shadow  and  only  occasionally  at  the  houses  and 
shops  as  we  wound  along  into  the  heart  of  the  village. 
But  even  these  occasional  glimpses  revealed  the  most 
fascinating  of  little  details  in  the  local  architecture, 
curious  Gothic  and  Moorish  windows  surviving  from 
a  bygone  day  and  ornamented  with  the  border  of 
"rope"  pattern  worked  in  the  stone.  Almost  every- 
thing had  been  covered  with  the  dazzling  whitewash, 
save  here  and  there  a  relic  of  former  days  which 
was  allowed  to  retain  the  natural  color  of  the  native 
rock. 

In  most  of  the  cases  the  actual  dwellings  were  set 
well  back  from  the  streets,  which  were  extremely  nar- 
row and  crooked.  Between  the  highway  and  the  house 
was  invariably  a  tiny  courtyard,  screened  from  the  view 
of  passers  by  a  lofty  wall,  always  of  white.  The  yards 
were  occasionally  to  be  peered  into,  however,  through 
a  gate  left  temptingly  ajar.  These  diminutive  courts 
were  floored  with  pebble  work  in  black  and  white  de- 
signs throughout  their  extent,  save  where  the  matron 
of  the  house  had  a  flower  bed  under  cultivation.  These 
beds  and  boxes  of  flowers  were  a  riot  of  color  and 
filled  the  air  with  fragrance,  while  the  green  foliage 
furnished  a  lively  contrast  with  the  dead  white  of  the 
walls  behind. 

In  the  doorways  of  the  dwellings  within  could  be 


322     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

seen  groups  of  bashful  women,  and  shy  children  hid- 
ing in  their  mothers'  skirts,  who  looked  furtively  at  us 
as  we  stopped  hesitatingly  before  their  gates.  Grow- 
ing bolder  we  finally  ventured  to  set  foot  within  the 
courtyards  now  and  then,  charmed  with  the  sweetness 
of  the  tiny  gardens  ;  and  at  length  we  made  bold  to 
enter  and  to  walk  over  the  pleasant  firmness  of  the 
pebbly  pavements  of  white  and  black  tracery  to  the 
doorways,  where  the  women  gave  a  timid  but  wel- 
coming good-day  and  bade  us  come  in.  The  absence 
of  men  was  notable.  We  were  later  told  that  the  male 
population  of  Lindos  was  temporarily  away,  being 
largely  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  great  dam 
at  Assouan,  on  the  Nile  ;  and  that  in  consequence  the 
women  had  practically  the  sole  charge  in  Lindos  at 
the  time,  which  may  have  accounted  for  the  immacu- 
lateness  of  everything.  We  were  likewise  told  that  in 
the  evening  a  certain  hour  was  reserved  for  the  sole 
use  of  the  women,  who  might  be  free  to  wander  at  will 
through  the  streets,  chiefly  to  get  water  for  their  house- 
holds, without  fear  of  molestation.  Lindos  for  the  time 
was  an  Adamless  Eden,  and  as  spick  and  span  a  town 
as  it  would  be  possible  to  find  on  earth. 

The  houses  into  which  we  were  welcomed  proved 
to  be  as  clean  within  as  without.  The  lower  story  ap- 
parently consisted  as  a  general  thing  of  a  single  great 
room,  with  possibly  a  smaller  apartment  back  of  it  for 


RHODES  323 

cooking-.  This  large  room  was  the  living  room  and 
sleeping  room  as  well.  The  floor  was  scrubbed  until 
its  boards  shone.  The  walls  were  of  the  universal 
white.  On  one  side  of  the  room  —  and  occasionally  on 
both  sides  —  was  to  be  seen  a  sort  of  dais,  or  elevated 
platform,  which  apparently  served  for  the  family  bed. 
The  bedding,  including  blankets  and  rugs  of  barbaric 
splendor,  was  neatly  piled  on  the  platform  or  hung 
over  the  railing  of  it.  And  it  was  here,  according  to 
all  appearance,  that  the  entire  household  retired  to  rest 
in  a  body  at  night,  in  harmonious  contiguity. 

What  interested  us  most  of  all,  however,  was  the 
decoration  of  the  rooms.  Nearly  every  one  that  we 
entered  was  adorned  with  numerous  plates  hung  on 
the  wall  in  great  profusion,  seldom  more  than  two 
being  of  the  same  pattern,  and  including  all  sorts  of 
designs,  from  the  valuable  Rhodian  down  to  the  com- 
mon "  willow  "  patterns  of  our  own  grandmothers' 
collections  at  home.  This  heterogeneous  array  of 
plates  puzzled  us  not  a  little  at  first.  It  was  so  uni- 
versal among  the  householders,  and  representative  of 
so  wide  a  field  of  the  ceramic  art,  that  some  expla- 
nation of  the  presence  of  these  plates  seemed  neces- 
sary. Later  it  developed  that  the  Rhodian  custom 
has  long  been  to  mark  the  birth  of  each  child  by  the 
addition  of  a  plate  to  the  family  collection,  the  fewer 
duplicates  the  better.  The  agglomeration  of  these 


324     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

dishes  that  we  saw  represented  the  family  trees  for 
generations.  Despite  the  connection  presumably  ex- 
isting between  the  plates  and  the  family  history,  how- 
ever, we  found  the  women  not  reluctant  to  part  with 
specimens  for  a  price,  and  we  carried  away  not  a  few. 
The  comparatively  rare  instances  in  which  we  found 
any  of  the  genuine  and  celebrated  Rhodian  ware,  how- 
ever, proved  that  its  great  value  was  well  known  by 
the  native  women.  Their  prices  in  such  cases  proved 
prohibitive,  especially  in  view  of  the  risk  of  breakage 
involved  in  getting  the  plates  home  from  so  distant 
an  island.  These  plates,  notable  for  the  beauty  of  their 
design  and  for  the  distinguishing  rose  pattern  in  the 
centre,  are  often  to  be  found  in  museum  collections, 
and  their  great  rarity  and  consequent  value  unfits 
them  for  other  uses  than  those  of  the  collector.  The 
few  that  we  found  in  Lindos  were  to  be  had  for 
prices  equivalent  to  about  eighty  dollars  apiece  in  our 
money,  which  seemed  exorbitant  until  we  were  later 
told  that  even  one  hundred  dollars  would  have  been 
reasonable  enough  for  some  of  the  finer  specimens. 
Indeed,  it  is  getting  to  be  rather  unusual  to  find  one 
of  these  for  sale  at  all. 

There  are  opportunities  enough,  as  we  discovered, 
to  purchase  the  famous  Rhodian  embroidery ;  but  we 
were  cautioned  to  leave  the  bargaining  to  experts 
familiar  with  values,  for  the  infrequent  visitor  is  al- 


RHODES  325 

most  certain  to  be  imposed  upon  in  any  such  trans- 
action. These  embroideries,  or  at  least  the  older  ones, 
are  very  elaborate  creations  of  colored  wools  on  a 
background  of  unbleached  linen,  the  colors  being  re- 
markably rich  and  fresh  despite  their  age,  an  age 
that  is  eloquently  testified  to  by  the  stains  and  worn 
places  in  the  cloth.  The  subject  of  Rhodian  em- 
broidery is  a  most  interesting  one,  but  too  intricate 
and  technical  to  be  gone  into  here.  The  study  of  the 
growth  of  certain  well-defined  groups  of  convention- 
alized figures  might  well  furnish  material  for  a  con- 
siderable body  of  literature,  if  it  has  not  already  done 
so.  We  were  informed  that  the  wealth  of  Rhodian 
embroidery  was  due  to  the  ancient  custom  —  which 
may  still  exist  among  the  Rhodian  girls  —  to  begin 
the  preparation  of  the  nuptial  gear  at  a  tender  age, 
they  plying  their  needles  almost  daily,  until  by  the 
time  they  are  marriageable  they  have  accumulated  a 
surprising  amount  of  bizarre  blankets,  cloths,  and  bits 
of  finery  for  their  dower  chests. 

The  leisurely  progress  through  the  town  required 
some  time,  occupied  as  we  were  by  frequent  visits  to 
the  odd  little  houses  in  the  quest  of  curious  wares  to 
carry  away.  And  by  the  time  we  had  reached  the 
centre  of  the  town,  the  hot  sun  made  us  glad  indeed 
to  step  under  a  spacious  arch,  washed  underneath 
with  a  sky-blue  tint  which  was  restful  to  our  tired 


326     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

eyes,  and  thence  to  go  into  the  cool  and  aromatic 
quiet  of  a  very  old  Greek  church,  where  the  glare  of 
the  sun  on  the  white  buildings  could  be  forgotten. 
Most  notable  of  all  the  curious  things  shown  us  by 
the  attendant  priest  was  the  quaintly  carved  roof, 
which,  after  so  much  excessive  light  out  of  doors,  it 
was  decidedly  difficult  to  see  at  all  in  the  grateful 
gloom  of  the  church. 

We  delayed  but  a  little  while  there,  for  the  acro- 
polis above  was  the  ultimate  goal  of  our  visit  to  the 
spot.  Thither  we  were  conducted  by  the  Danish  gen- 
tleman who  had  charge  of  the  investigations  being 
prosecuted  there.  The  way  led  out  of  the  dense  build- 
ings of  the  town  and  along  the  base  of  the  over- 
hanging cliff  to  the  side  toward  the  open  sea,  always 
upward  and  above  the  flat  roofs  of  the  little  town 
below,  until  we  came  to  the  foot  of  the  stairway  of 
stone  leading  up  through  a  defile  in  the  rock  to  the 
arched  portal  of  the  castle  on  the  height.  It  was  a 
long  flight  of  steps,  one  side  against  the  smooth  face 
of  the  rock,  the  other  unprotected.  And  at  the  foot 
of  the  impressive  approach  to  the  citadel  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  the  discoveries  made  on  the 
site.  It  was  a  gigantic  sculpture  in  bas-relief  hewn  out 
of  the  face  of  the  cliff  itself  and  representing,  in  "  life 
size,"  so  to  speak,  the  stern  of  an  ancient  trireme.  The 
relief  was  sufficiently  high  to  give  a  fiat  space  on  what 


RHODES 


327 


was  intended  to  be  the  deck  of  the  ship,  supposably 
as  a  pedestal  for  some  statue  which  has  disappeared. 
The  curved  end  of  the  trireme  with  its  sustaining 
bolt,  the  seat  of  the  helmsman,  and  a  blade  of  one  of 
the  oars,  were  still  intact,  and  as  a  large  representa- 


SCULPTURED    TRIREME    IN    ROCK    AT    LINDOS 
From  a  Sketch  by  the  Author 

tion  of  a  classic  ship  the  sculpture  is  doubtless  unique. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes  it  is  as  perfect  to-day  as 
when  the  artists  first  carved  it. 

In  the  grateful  shade  of  the  rock  we  sat  and  listened 


328     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

to  the  description  of  the  archaeological  work  done  on 
the  spot  by  the  Danes,  which  has  not,  at  this  writing, 
been  officially  published,  and  therefore  seems  not 
proper  matter  for  inexpert  discussion  here.  One  in- 
teresting fact,  however,  which  we  were  told,  was  that, 
by  means  of  certain  records  deciphered  from  tablets 
found  on  the  acropolis,  it  had  been  possible  to  fix 
definitely  the  date  of  the  statue  of  the  Laocoon  as 
a  work  of  the  first  century  before  Christ.  This  was 
established  by  the  list  of  the  names  of  the  priests, 
and  of  the  sculptors  who  worked  for  them,  at  periods 
which  it  proved  possible  to  fix  with  a  remarkable 
degree  of  exactness. 

We  ascended  to  the  height  above,  where  we  were 
permitted  to  wander  at  will  a^^long  the  ruins.  As 
from  below,  the  chief  features  were  those  of  the  me- 
dieval period,  which  had  so  largely  swallowed  up  the 
temple  of  Athena.  Nevertheless  the  excavators  had 
restored  enough  of  the  original  site  from  its  cover- 
ing of  debris  to  reveal  the  vestiges  of  the  old  temple 
and  an  imposing  propylaea,  with  traces  enough  in 
fragmentary  form  to  enable  making  drawings  of  the 
structures  as  they  probably  appeared  to  the  ancient 
eye.  For  the  rest  the  chief  interest  centred  in  the 
relics  of  the  abode  of  the  knights.  Just  at  the  head 
of  the  grand  entrance  stairway  was  the  tower  which 
defended  the  acropolis  on  its  one  accessible  side.  The 


ARCHED    PORTAL    OP^    ACROPOLIS.     LINUOS 


■  RHODES  329 

arched  portal  is  very  nearly  perfect  still,  and  one 
passes  under  it,  across  a  sort  of  moat,  by  means  of  an 
improvised  bridge  of  planks,  where  once,  no  doubt, 
a  drawbridge  served  to  admit  or  to  bar  out  at  the 
will  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  ancient  commandery. 
Beyond  the  entrance  hall  lay  a  succession  of  vaulted 
halls  and  chambers  leading  around  to  the  open  pre- 
cincts of  the  acropolis,  the  most  evidently  well-pre- 
served buildings  being  the  chapel  of  St.  John  and  the 
house  once  occupied  by  the  Grand  Master  himself. 
All  were  of  the  brownish  native  rock,  and  were  un- 
mistakably medieval  in  their  general  style  of  archi- 
tecture. On  the  open  terraces  above  the  entrance, 
little  remained  to  be  seen  save  the  heaps  of  debris 
and  the  faint  traces  of  the  classic  temples.  But  most 
impressive  of  all  was  the  sheer  drop  of  the  rock  on 
all  sides  around  the  acropolis  and  the  views  off  to 
sea  and  inland  over  Rhodes.  The  precipices  every- 
where, save  at  the  entrance  alone,  fell  away  perpen- 
dicularly to  the  sea,  which  murmured  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  below.  Nevertheless,  despite  the  evident 
hopelessness  of  ever  scaling  the  height,  the  pains- 
taking knights  had  built  a  wall  with  battlements  all 
about,  less  serviceable  as  protecting  the  inhabitants 
against  assault  than  for  preserving  them  from  fall- 
ing over  to  a  certain  and  awful  death  themselves. 
The  drop  on  the  landward  side  was  considerably  less. 


330    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

but  quite  as  steep  and  quite  as  impregnable  to  would- 
be  scaling  parties.  Even  a  few  munitions  of  war,  in 
the  shape  of  rounded  stones  about  the  size  of  old- 
fashioned  cannon  balls  seen  in  our  modern  military 
parks,  were  to  be  found  about  the  summit. 

The  views  from  this  elevated  height  were  superb, 
not  only  off  across  the  sea  to  the  mountainous  land 
of  Asia  Minor,  but  inland  toward  the  rocky  interior 
of  Rhodes  herself.  The  land  just  across  the  little  de- 
pression in  which  the  white  town  lay,  rose  to  an- 
other though  less  commanding  height,  in  the  slopes 
of  which  the  excavator  said  they  had  but  recently 
unearthed  some  ancient  rock  tombs.  Beyond,  the 
country  rolled  in  an  undulating  sea  of  green  hills  —  a 
pleasant  land  as  always,  and  doubtless  as  flowery  as 
of  old  when  she  took  her  name  from  the  rose  (rhodos) 
and  when  the  wild  pomegranate  flower  gave  Brown- 
ing's "  Balaustion "  her  nickname.  As  a  colony  of 
the  Athenian  empire  she  stood  loyal  to  the  Attic  city 
down  to  412  B.  C,  in  those  troublous  days  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war,  when  the  star  of  Athens  waned  and 
most  of  the  Rhodians  at  last  revolted.  Those  who  still 
clung  to  Athens  probably  went  away  as  Balaustion 
did,  and  returned,  if  at  all,  only  after  Athens  had  been 
laid  waste  to  the  sound  of  the  flute.  Under  the  Roman 
domination  Rhodes  enjoyed  a  return  to  high  favor, 
and  Tiberius  selected  the  smiling  isle  as  his  place  of 


RHODES  331 

banishment.  For  siding  with  Caesar,  Cassius  punished 
the  island  by  plundering  it.  For  centuries  after,  it  was 
overrun  by  the  Arabs  ;  and  from  them  it  was  taken 
by  the  Byzantines,  who  turned  it  over  to  the  Knights 
of  St.  John,  who  took  the  new  name  of  the  Knights 
of  Rhodes,  fortified  the  spot  as  we  saw,  and  held  it  for 
a  long  time  against  all  comers,  down  to  1522,  when 
the  Sultan  Solyman  II.  reduced  it.  It  is  still  Turkish 
territory,  and  of  the  finds  made  by  the  archaeolo- 
gists on  the  site  of  Lindos,  the  great  bulk  have  been 
sent  to  Constantinople,  including  several  hundred 
terra  cotta  figurines.  The  zealous  Turks,  the  exca- 
vators complained,  had  taken  away  their  books  on 
landing,  with  the  result  that  they  had  led  a  lonely  life 
of  it,  their  only  diversion  being  their  labors  on  the 
acropolis. 

We  had  no  chance  to  inspect  the  interior  of  the 
island,  which  other  visitors  have  described  in  glow- 
ing colors  as  most  attractive  in  the  profusion  of  its 
almost  tropic  verdure  and  its  growths  of  cactus,  ole- 
ander, myrtle,  figs,  and  pomegranates.  Like  Cos, 
Rhodes  was  an  ancient  seat  of  culture,  greatly  favored 
by  students,  and  the  site  of  a  celebrated  university. 
yEschines  founded  here  a  famous  school  of  oratory, 
and  in  later  years  the  institution  was  honored  by  the 
patronage  of  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Roman 
Cicero.  Of  these,  of  course,  we  saw  no  trace. 


332     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

Neither  had  we  any  opportunity  to  visit  the  ancient 
capital,  ''Rhodes  the  town,"  which  boasts  the  ruins  of 
a  very  similar  castle  of  the  knights.  As  for  the  famous 
Colossus,  which  nearly  everybody  remembers  first  of 
all  in  trying  to  recall  what  were  the  wonders  of  the 
world,  it  no  longer  exists.  But  in  passing  one  may 
remark  that  the  notion  that  this  gigantic  statue  be- 
strode the  harbor  has  been  exploded,  destroying  one 
of  the  most  cherished  delusions  of  childhood  which 
the  picture  in  the  back  of  Webster's  Unabridged  con- 
tributed not  least  of  all  in  producing,  in  the  past  two 
generations. 

There  were  three  celebrated  cities  in  Rhodes  in  its 
golden  age  —  Lindos,  lalysos,  and  Kameiros  —  which, 
with  Cos,  Cnidos,  and  Halicarnassus,  formed  the  an- 
cient Dorian  "hexapolis,"  or  six  cities,  four  of  which 
it  had  been  our  good  fortune  to  visit  within  the  past 
two  days.  The  city  of  Rhodes  was  formed  compara- 
tively late  by  inhabitants  from  the  three  original  cities 
of  the  island,  and  became  a  prosperous  and  influen- 
tial port.  The  inhabitants  were  seafaring  people  and 
developed  a  high  degree  of  skill  in  navigation,  with 
an  interesting  corollary  in  their  code  of  maritime  law, 
from  which  a  faint  survival  is  found  in  the  doctrine 
of  "  general  average  "  in  our  own  admiralty  practice, 
sometimes  referred  to  as  the  Rhodian  law,  and  hav- 
ing to  do  with  the  participation  of  all  shippers  in  such 


RHODES  333 

losses  as  may  be  occasioned  by  throwing  a  part  of 
tiie  cargo  overboard  to  save  the  whole  from  loss.  To 
visit  Kameiros  and  the  interior  would  have  been  inter- 
esting but  impossible,  and  we  found  our  consolation 
for  the  inability  to  visit  other  Rhodian  sites  in  the 
loveliness  of  Lindos,  with  its  acropolis  above  and  its 
pure  white  walls  below,  its  gardens,  its  courtyards,  and 
its  collections  of  plates.  And  we  left  it  with  regret  — 
a  regret  which  was  shared  no  doubt  by  the  lonely 
Danish  explorer  whom  we  left  waving  adieu  to  us 
from  the  shore  as  we  pulled  away  across  the  shallow 
waters  of  the  harbor  to  the  steamer,  and  turned  our 
faces  once  more  toward  the  west  and  that  Athens  of 
which  Balaustion  dreamed. 


CHAPTER   XVIII.     THERA 


N^O  island  that  we  visited  in  our  ^gean  cruise 
„  was  more  interesting  than  Thera  proved  to 
be,  when  we  had  steamed  across  the  intervening 
ocean  from  Rhodes  and  into  the  immense  basin  that 
serves  Thera  —  or  modern  Santorin  —  for  a  harbor. 
No  more  remarlcable  harbor  could  well  be  conceived. 
If  Vesuvius  could  be  imagined  to  sink  into  Naples 
bay  until  there  were  left  protruding  only  about  a 
thousand  feet  of  the  present  altitude ;  if  the  ocean 
should  be  admitted  to  the  interior  of  the  volcano 
by  two  great  channels  or  fissures  in  the  sides  —  one 
at  the  point  where  the  ubiquitous  Mr.  Cook  has  — 
or  did  have  —  his  funicular  railway,  and  the  other 
in  the  general  locality  represented  by  the  ill-starred 
Bosco  Trecase  ;  and  if  the  present  awesome  crater, 
into  which  so  many  thousand  visitors  have  peered, 
should  thus  be  filled  throughout  its  extent  by  the 
cooling  waters,  so  as  to  form  a  great  and  placid  bay 
within  the  mountain,  —  then  we  should  have  an  al- 


THERA  335 

most  exact  reproduction  of  what  happened  at  Thera 
something  Uke  four  thousand  years  ago.  Further- 
more, if  we  may  add  to  our  Vesuvian  hypothesis  the 
supposition  that  there  be  built  along  the  eastern  lip 
of  the  crater  a  long  white  town,  stretching  for  per- 
haps  a  mile  along  the  sharp  spine  of  the  summit,  we 
shouM  have  an  equally  exact  reproduction  of  what 
PYisK  at  Thera  to-df^v. 

Thera  lies  at  the  end  of  the  chain  of  submerged 
peaks  that  reveal  the  continuation  of  the  Attic  pen- 
insula under  the  waters  of  the  yEgean.  The  same 
rocky  range  of  mountains  that  disappears  into  the 
sea  at  Sunium  rises  again  and  again  as  it  stretches 
off  to  the  southeast  to  form  the  islands  of  Cythnos, 
Seriphos,  Siphnos,  and  their  fellows,  and  the  series 
closes,  apparently,  in  the  volcanic  island  of  Santorin, 
under  which  name  the  moderns  know  the  island 
which  the  ancients  called  successively  Kallista  (most 
beautiful)  and  Thera.  Considering  her  beauty  as  an 
island  and  her  comparative  nearness  to  the  main- 
land of  Greece  or  to  Crete,  Thera  is  surprisingly  little 
known.  Historically  Thera  had  small  celebrity  com- 
pared with  her  neighbors  ;  but  in  every  other  way  it 
seemed  to  us  that  she  surpassed  them  all.  Legend 
appears  to  have  left  the  island  comparatively  unhon- 
ored,  and  poetry  has  permitted  her  to  remain  unsung. 
No  Byron  has  filled  high  his  bowl  with  Theran  wine. 


7,2,6     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

No  burning  poetess  lived  or  sang  in  her  single  tor- 
tuous street.  No  god  of  Olympus  claimed  the  isle 
for  his  birthright.  But  for  beauty  of  every  kind,  from 
the  pastoral  to  the  sublimely  awful,  Thera  has  no 


fellow  in  the  ^-Egean  ;  and  for  extraordinary  natural 
history  and  characteristics,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  has  a 
fellow  in  the  world.  For  it  is  a  sunken  volcano,  with 
a  bottomless  harbor,  where  once  was  the  centre  of 
fiery  activity,  —  a  harbor,  rimmed  about  with  miles 
of  encircling  precipices,  on  the  top  of  one  of  which 


THERA  337 

lies  the  town  of  Thera,  a  thousand  feet  straight  up 
above  the  sea,  and  reachable  only  by  a  steep  and 
winding  mule  track  which  connects  it  with  the  dimin- 
utive landing  stage  below. 

There  appears  to  be  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion 
as  to  the  exact  date  when  the  original  mountain  was 
blown  to  pieces  and  sunk  in  the  ocean,  but  it  may  be 
roughly  stated  to  have  occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
sixteenth  century  before  Christ,  although  some  au- 
thorities incline  to  believe  the  eruption  to  have  come 
to  pass  at  a  still  earlier  period.  As  to  the  inhabitants 
before  the  time  of  that  extraordinary  upheaval,  little 
is  known  save  what  may  be  gleaned  from  a  multi- 
tude of  pottery  vases  left  behind  by  those  early  set- 
tlers, and  bearing  ornamentation  of  a  rude  sort  that 
stamps  them  as  belonging  to  the  remote  pre-Myce- 
nsean  age,  the  age  that  preceded  the  greatness  of 
Agamemnon's  city  and  the  sack  of  Troy.  It  seems 
entirely  probable  that  the  early  Therans  were  from 
Phoenicia,  and  tradition  says  that  they  came  over 
under  the  leadership  of  no  less  a  personage  than 
Cadmus  himself.  What  we  know  for  a  certainty, 
however,  is  that  at  some  prehistoric  time  the  original 
volcano  underwent  a  most  remarkable  change  and 
subsided,  with  a  blaze  of  glory  that  can  hardly  be 
imagined,  into  the  waters  of  the  ^gean,  until  only 
the  upper  rim  and  three  central  cones  are  now  to  be 


338     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

seen  above  the  water's  edge.  Through  two  enormous 
crevices  torn  in  the  northern  and  southern  slopes  tTie 
irresistible  ocean  poured  into  the  vast  central  cavity, 

cooling  to  a  large  extent  the  fiery  ardor  of  the  moun- 

'     " 1 '.   "  '        '» 

tain  and  leayjng  it  q?^  we  found  it,  a  circle  of  frown- 
ing cliffs,  nearly  a  thousand  feet  in  height  and  some- 
thing like  eighteen  miles  in  periphery,  inclosing  a 
placid  and  practically  bottomless  harbor  in  what  was 
once  the  volcano's  heart,  the  surface  of  the  bay  pierced 
by  only  three  diminutive  islands,  once  the  cones  of 
the  volcano,  and  not  entirely  inert  even  to-day.  In 
fact  one  of  these  central  islands  appeared  as  recently 
as  1866  during  an  eruption  that  showed  the  fires  of 
Santorin  not  yet  to  be  extinguished  by  any  means  — 
a  fact  that  is  further  testified  to  by  the  heat  of  certain 
portions  of  the  inclosed  waters  of  the  basin. 

Into  this  curious  harbor  our  little  chartered  ship 
glided  in  the  early  light  of  an  April  morning,  which 
dimly  revealed  the  walls  of  forbidding  stone  towering 
high  above  in  cliffs  of  that  black,  scarred  appearance 
peculiar  to  volcanic  formation,  marred  by  the  ravages 
of  the  ancient  fires,  yet  none  the  less  relieved  from 
utter  sullenness  here  and  there  b}^  strata  of  rich  red 
stone  or  by  patches  of  grayish  white  tufa.  Neverthe- 
less it  was  all  sombre  and  forbidding,  especially  in 
the  early  twilight ;  for  the  sun  had  not  yet  risen  above 
the  horizon,  much  less  penetrated  into  the  cavernous 


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THERA  339 

depths  of  Thera's  harbor.  High  above,  however, 
perched  on  what  looked  Hke  a  most  precarious  po- 
sition along  the  summit  of  the  cliff,  ran  the  white  line 
of  the  city,  already  catching  the  morning  light  on  its 
domes  and  towers,  but  seeming  rather  a  Lilliputian 
village  than  a  habitation  of  men ;  while  far  away  to  the 
north,  on  another  portion  of  the  crater  wall,  a  smaller 
city  seemed  rather  a  lining  of  frost  or  snow  gathered 
on  the  crater's  lip. 

A  few  shallops  made  shift  to  anchor  close  to  the  foot 
of  the  precipice,  where  a  narrow  submarine  shelf  pro- 
jects sufficiently  to  give  a  precarious  holding  ground 
for  small  craft ;  and  near  them  were  grouped  a  few 
white  buildings  showing  duskily  in  the  morning  half- 
light  and  serving  to  indicate  the  landing  stage.  In 
the  main,  however,  there  is  little  anchorage  in  the 
entire  bay,  which  is  practically  bottomless.  No  cable 
could  fathom  the  depth  of  the  basin  a  few  rods  ofi 
shore,  and  fortunately  none  is  needed,  since  the  shel- 
ter is  perfect.  The  steamer  held  her  own  for  hours 
by  a  mere  occasional  lazy  turning  of  her  screw.  To 
the  southward  lay  the  broad  channel  through  which 
our  ship  had  entered,  and  to  the  north  lay  the  nar- 
row passage  through  which  at  nightfall  we  proposed 
to  depart  for  Athens.  Everywhere  else  was  the  en- 
circling wall  of  strangely  variegated  rock,  buttressed 
here  and  there  by  enormous  crags  of  black  lava, 


340     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

which  sometimes  seemed  to  strengthen  it  and  some- 
times threatened  to  fall  crashing  to  the  waters  directly 
below.  Indeed  landslides  are  by  no  means  uncornrnon 
in  Thera,  and  several  persons  have  been  killed  even 
at  the  laiiding_glace  by  masses  of  stone  falling  from 
above, 

As  the  light  increased  at  the  base  of  the  cliff,  it 
became  possible  to  see  the  donkey  track  leading  in 
a  score  or  more  of  steep  windings  up  the  face  of  the 
rock  from  the  landing  to  the  city  high  above,  arched 
here  and  there  over  old  landslips  or  ravines,  while 
nearby  were  to  be  seen  curious  cave-dwellings,  where 
caverns  in  the  tufa  had  been  walled  up,  provided  with 
doors  and  windows,  and  inhabited. 

There  was  some  little  delay  in  landing,  even  after 
our  small  boats  had  set  us  ashore  on  the  narrow  quay, 
slippery  with  seaweed  and  covered  with  barnacles. 
We  were  herded  in  a  rather  impatient  group  behind 
a  row  of  shore  boats  drawn  up  on  the  landing  stage, 
and  detained  there  until  "  pratique "  had  been  ob- 
tained, which  entitled  us  to  proceed  through  the  de- 
vious byways  of  the  tiny  village  close  by  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  ascent.  The  wharf  was  covered  with 
barrels,  heaps  of  wood,  carboys  covered  with  wicker, 
and  all  the  paraphernalia  to  be  expected  of  the  port 
of  a  wine-exporting,  water-importing  community ;  for 
Thera  has  to  send  abroad  for  water,  aside  from  what 


THERA  341 

she  is  able  to  collect  from  the  rains,  and  also  relies 
largely  on  her  neighbors  for  wood.  There  are  almost 
no  native  trees  and  no  springs  at  all ;  and  one  French 
writer  apparently  has  been  greatly  disturbed  by  this 
embarrassing  difficulty,  saying,  "One  finds  there 
neither  wood  nor  water^  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  go 
abroad  for  each  —  and  yet  to  buiid~sEips~onF~must 
have  wood,  and  to  go  tor  water  snips  are  necessaryP' 
On  emerging  from  the  cluster  of  small  buildings  at 
the  base  of  the  clifT  and  entering  upon  the  steep  path 
which  leads  to  the  city  above,  we  at  once  encountered 
the  trains  of  asses  that  furnish  the  only  means  of  com- 
munication between  the  village  of  Thera  above  and 
the  ships  below  —  asses  patiently  bearing  broad  deck- 
loads  of  fagots,  or  of  boards,  or  of  various  containers 
useful  for  transporting  liquids.  It  was  easily  possible 
to  hire  beasts  to  ride  up  the  winding  highway  to  Thera, 
but  as  the  grade  was  not  prohibitive  and  as  the  time 
required  for  a  pedestrian  to  ascend  was  predicted  to  be 
from  twenty  minutes  to  half  an  hour,  these  were  voted 
unnecessary,  especially  as  it  was  still  shady  on  the  bay 
side  of  the  cliff  and  would  continue  so  for  hours.  So 
we  set  out,  not  too  briskly,  up  the  path.  It  proved  to 
be  utterly  impracticable  for  anything  on  wheels,  be- 
ing not  only  steep  but  frequently  provided  with  the 
broad  steps  so  often  to  be  seen  in  Greek  and  Italian 
hill  towns,  while  it  was  paved  throughout  with  blocks 


342     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  basalt  which  continual  traffic  had  rendered  slip- 
pery in  the  extreme.  The  slipperiness,  indeed,  ren- 
ders the  ascent  to  Thera  if  anything  easier  than  the 
coming  down,  for  on  the  latter  journey  one  must  ex- 
ercise constant  care  in  placing  the  feet  and  proceed 
at  a  pace  that  is  anything  but  brisk,  despite  the 
downward  grade. 

The  only  care  in  going  up  was  to  avoid  the  little 
trains  of  donkeys  with  their  projecting  loads  and  their 
mischievous  desire  to  crowd  pedestrians  to  the  para- 
pet side  of  the  road,  a  propensity  which  we  speedily 
learned  to  avoid  by  giving  the  beasts  as  wide  a  berth 
as  the  constricted  path  would  allow,  choosing  always 
the  side  next  the  cliff  itself ;  for  the  sheer  drop  from 
the  parapet  soon  became  too  appalling  to  contemplate 
as  the  way  wound  higher  and  higher,  turn  after  turn, 
above  the  hamlet  at  the  landing.  The  view  speedily 
gained  in  magnificence,  showing  the  bay  in  its  full 
extent,  with  the  two  entrance  channels  far  away  and 
the  detached  portion  of  the  opposite  crater  wall,  now 
called  Therasia,  as  if  it  were,  as  it  appears  to  be,  an 
entirely  separate  island  of  a  small  local  archipelago, 
instead  of  one  homogeneous  but  sunken  mountain. 
Directly  below  lay  the  landing  stage  with  its  cluster 
of  white  warehouses,  the  scattered  cave-dwellings,  and 
the  tiny  ships  moored  close  to  the  quay — small  enough 
at  close  range,  but  from  this  height  like  the  vessels  in 


i 


i 


THERA  343 

a  toy-shop  So  precipitous  is  the  crater  wall  that  one 
could  almost  fling  a  pebble  over  the  parapet  and  strike 
the  settlement  at  the  foot  of  the  path.  The  varying 
colors  of  the  rock,  when  brought  out  by  the  growing 
sunlight,  added  a  sombre  liveliness  to  the  view,  the 
red  tones  of  the  cliff  preponderating  over  the  forbid- 
ding black  of  the  lava,  while  here  and  there  a  long 
gash  revealed  the  ravages  of  a  considerable  landslip. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  half-hour's  hard  climb  to  Thera. 
But  when  the  town  did  begin,  it  stole  upon  us  ere  we 
were  aware,  isolated  and  venturesome  dwellings  of  the 
semi-cave  type  dropping  down  the  face  of  the  cliff  to 
meet  the  highway  winding  painfully  up,  these  in  turn 
giving  place  to  more  pretentious  dwellings  with  flat 
or  domed  roofs,  all  shining  with  immaculate  white- 
wash and  gleaming  in  the  morning  sun,  in  sharp 
contrast  with  the  dark  rocks  on  which  they  had  their 
foundation.  The  scriptural  architect  who  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand  might  well  have  regarded  that 
selection  as  stable  and  secure  compared  with  some 
of  these  Theran  dwellings ;  for  although  they  are 
founded  upon  a  rock  and  are  in  some  cases  half  sunk 
in  it,  there  seems  to  be  little  guarantee  that  the  rock 
itself  may  not  some  day  split  off  and  land  them  down 
among  the  ships. 

When  the  winding  path  finally  attained  the  summit, 
it  was  found  to  debouch  into  a  narrow  public  square. 


344     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

flanked  by  the  inevitable  museum  of  antiquities  and  a 
rather  garish  church ;  the  latter  painfully  new,  and,  like 
all  Greek  houses  of  worship,  making  small  pretense 
of  outward  and  visible  signs  of  inward  and  spiritual 
grace.  It  may  be  sacred  to  St.  Irene,  and  very  likely 
is,  for  the  island  takes  its  modern  name  from  that  saint 
and  boasts  innumerable  shrines  to  her  memory.  We 
take  credit  to  ourselves  that,  although  Thera  called 
loudly  with  manifold  charms,  we  first  sought  the  sanc- 
tuary ;  but  to  our  shame  we  did  not  remain  there  long. 
A  venerable  priest,  perspiring  under  a  multitude  of 
gorgeous  vestments,  was  officiating  in  the  presence  of 
a  very  meagre  congregation,  composed  of  extremely 
young  boys  and  a  scant  choir.  Fortunately  for  our 
peace  of  mind,  this  particular  church's  one  foundation 
v/as  on  the  side  of  the  square  away  from  the  precipice, 
giving  a  sense  of  security  not  otherwise  to  be  gained. 
But  the  mountain,  even  on  its  gentler  side,  is  far  from 
being  gradual,  and  is  only  less  steep  than  toward  the 
inner  basin.  The  "  blessed  mutter  of  the  mass "  in 
Greek  is  so  unintelligible  to  foreign  ears  that  it  soon 
drove  us  forth  into  the  air  outside  and  then  to  the  little 
museum  next  door,  where  were  displayed  the  rather 
overwhelming  antiquities  of  the  place,  —  mainly  vases 
that  had  been  made  and  used  long  before  the  eruption 
which  destroyed  the  island's  original  form  so  many 
thousand  years  before.   Many  of  these  were  graceful 


THERA  345 

in  form,  and  some  are  in  quite  perfect  preservation 
despite  their  fragility  and  the  enormous  lapse  of  time, 
revealing  still  the  rude  efforts  of  the  early  artist's  brush 
in  geometric  patterns,  lines,  angles,  and  occasionally 
even  primitive  attempts  to  represent  animal  shapes. 
Doubtless  these  relics  are  no  more  ancient  than  those  to 
be  seen  by  the  curious  in  the  palace  of  Minos  in  Crete, 
and  are  paralleled  in  antiquity  by  pottery  remnants  in 
other  pre-Mycenaean  sites ;  but  for  some  reason  the 
lapse  of  ages  since  they  were  made  and  used  comes 
home  to  one  with  more  reality  in  Thera  than  else- 
where, I  suppose  because  of  the  impressive  story  of 
the  eruption  at  such  a  hazy  distance  before  the  dawn 
of  recorded  history.  So  overpowering  did  these  silent 
witnesses  of  a  bygone  day  prove,  that  we  disposed 
of  them  with  a  celerity  that  would  have  shocked  an 
archaeologist,  and  betook  ourselves  straightway  to  the 
modern  town  without,  which  ran  temptingly  along 
the  ridge  of  the  summit  northward,  presenting,  like 
Taormina,  a  single  narrow  street  lined  with  the  whit- 
est of  shops  and  dwellings,  with  here  and  there  nar- 
row byways  of  steps  leading  up  or  down,  as  the  case 
might  be,  to  outlying  clusters  of  buildings.  This  main 
thoroughfare,  hardly  wider  than  a  city  sidewalk,  fol- 
lows the  uneven  line  of  the  mountain  top,  winding 
about  and  dodging  up  and  down,  sometimes  by  in- 
clined planes  and  sometimes  by  flights  of  steps,  such 


346     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

as  are  common  enough  in  side  streets  of  Italian  or 
Greek  hill  towns. 

From  the  higher  points  the  city  presented  a  sea  of 
undulating  white,  the  roofs  divided  almost  evenly 
between  the  flat,  parapeted  style,  designed  to  catch 
the  falling  rain,  which  is  doubly  precious  in  the  island, 
and  the  dome,  or  half-barrel  style,  which  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  local  scarcity  of  timber,  making  necessary 
this  self-supporting  arch  of  cement.  Thus  over  and 
over  again  is  the  lack  of  wood  and  water  brought  to 
mind.  At  a  turn  in  the  main  street  there  disclosed  it- 
self a  fascinating  vista  of  white  walls,  inclosing  neat 
courtyards,  pebble-paved  in  black  and  white  after  the 
island  manner,  and  framing  in  the  distance  a  many- 
arched  campanile  in  clear  relief  against  the  brilliant 
sky,  the  glare  of  the  whiteness  mitigated  by  the 
strong  oblique  shadows  and  the  bronze  green  of  the 
bells. 

Two  things  prevented  our  tarrying  in  Thera  in- 
definitely. One  was  the  urgent  need  of  returning  to 
our  steamer  and  pursuing  our  cruise  through  the 
yEgean  ;  the  other  was  the  lack  of  suitable  lodging. 
However,  it  is  likely  that  the  latter  would  have  proved 
anything  but  an  insuperable  obstacle  if  tested  by  an 
irresistible  force  of  intrepid  determination,  for  lodg- 
ing we  could  have  found,  despite  the  fact  that  Thera 
boasts  no  hotel.    Wandering  along  the  street  and 


A    THERAN    STREET 


«J 


THERA  347 

stopping  now  and  then  to  inspect  the  curious  way- 
side shops,  or  to  gaze  in  wonder  through  gaps  in  the 
walls  of  dwellings  at  the  incredible  gulf  yawning  be- 
yond and  beneath,  we  came  suddenly  upon  a  coffee- 
house which  completed  our  capture.  The  proprietor, 
as  it  developed,  spoke  Italian  enough  to  give  us 
common  ground,  ushered  us  out  upon  a  balcony  that 
looked  toward  the  water,  and  produced  a  huge  flagon 
of  the  wine  of  the  country.  Ah,  the  wine  of  the  coun- 
try !  It  was  yellow.  It  was  not  sickish  sweet,  like  the 
Samian  that  Byron  praised  so.  It  was  warming  to 
the  midriff  and  made  one  charitable  as  one  sipped. 
Overhead  flapped  a  dingy  awning  in  the  lazy  west- 
ern breeze.  Below  wound  the  donkey  path,  with  its 
trains  of  asses  silently  ascending  and  descending 
through  the  shimmering  heat  of  the  April  morning. 
Far,  far  beneath,  and  indeed  almost  directly  at  our 
feet,  lay  the  toy-ships  and  the  steamer,  close  by  the 
little  hamlet  of  the  landing  stage,  where  tiny  people, 
like  ants,  scurried  busily,  but  at  this  distance  made  no 
sound.  Across  the  sea  of  rising  and  falling  roofs  came 
the  tinkle  of  an  insistent  church  bell,  calling  the  con- 
gregation of  some  church  of  St.  Irene.  Bliss  like  this 
is  cheap  at  three  drachmas,  with  a  trifling  addition 
of  Greek  coppers  for  good-will !  It  was  on  this  narrow 
balcony  overlooking  the  ba)'^  that  we  fell  in  love  with 
Thera.    Before  we  had  been  merely  prepossessed. 


348     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

The  Greek  word  for  hotel  sounds  suspiciously  like 
"Senator  Sheehan"  in  the  mouth  of  the  native,  as  we 
had  long  ago  learned ;  so  we  instituted  inquiry  as  to 
that  feature  of  the  town,  in  the  hope  some  day  of  re- 
turning thither  for  a  more  extended  stay,  with  oppor- 
tunity to  explore  the  surrounding  country.  A  distant 
and  not  unpromising  edifice  was  pointed  out,  a  coffee- 
house like  our  own,  but  provided  with  a  large  room 
where  rather  dubious  beds  were  sometimes  spread 
for  the  weary,  according  to  our  entertainer;  and  it 
may  be  that  his  shrug  was  the  mere  product  of  pro- 
fessional jealousy.  Inexorable  fate,  however,  decreed 
that  we  should  not  investigate,  but  content  ourselves 
with  rambling  through  the  town  from  end  to  end, 
enjoying  its  quaint  architecture,  its  white  walls  re- 
lieved only  by  touches  of  bufT  or  the  lightest  of  light 
blues,  its  incomparable  situation  on  this  rocky  saddle, 
and  its  views,  either  into  the  chasm  of  the  harbor  or 
outward  across  the  troubled  expanse  of  the  ^gean 
to  other  neighboring  islands. 

At  the  north  end  of  the  city,  where  the  houses 
ceased  and  gave  place  to  the  open  ridge  of  the 
mountain,  there  stood  an  old  mill,  into  the  cavern- 
ous  depths  of  which  we  were  bidden  enter  by  an 
aged  crone.  It  revealed  some  very  primitive  ma- 
chinery, the  gearing  being  hewn  out  of  huge  slices 
of  round  logs  in  which  rude  cogs  were  cut.  Just  out- 


THERA  349 

side  stood  a  sooty  oven,  for  the  miller  not  only  ground 
the  neighborhood  corn,  but  converted  it  into  bread. 
Beyond  the  mill  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  habi- 
tation, although  on  a  distant  bend  of  the  crater  there 
was  visible  a  white  patch  of  basalt  that  bore  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  populous  city  with  towers  and  battle- 
ments. Still  farther  to  the  north,  at  the  cape  next  the 
channel  out  to  sea,  lies  an  inconsiderable  town,  simi- 
larly situated  on  the  ridge,  while  along  the  bay  to  the 
south  are  occasional  settlements  and  windmills.  But 
Thera  town  is  the  only  congested  centre  of  popula- 
tion. 

In  attempting  to  analyze  the  impression  that  Thera 
made  on  us,  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  its 
chief  charm,  aside  from  its  curious  position, is  its  color; 
and  that  the  difficulty  of  describing  it  is  due  in  large 
part  to  the  inability  to  paint  in  words  the  amazing 
contrasts  of  rock,  city,  and  sky,  not  to  mention  the  sea. 
One  may  depict,  although  feebly,  the  architectural 
charm,  with  the  aid  of  his  camera,  or,  if  duly  gifted, 
may  chant  the  praise  of  Theran  wine.  With  the  aid 
of  geological  statistics  one  may  tell  just  how  the  moun- 
tain would  appear  if  we  could  draw  off  the  ocean  and 
expose  its  lower  depths,  leaving  a  circle  of  mountain 
inclosing  a  three-thousand  foot  cup,  and  jagged  cen- 
tral cones.  One  might,  by  a  superhuman  effort,  do 
justice  to  the  importunity  of  the  begging  children  of 


350     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

the  town.  But  to  give  a  true  account  of  Thera  de- 
mands the  aid  of  the  artist  with  his  pigments,  while 
best  of  all  is  a  personal  visit,  involving  little  time  and 
trouble  to  one  visiting  Greece —  little  trouble,that  is  to 
say,  in  comparison  with  the  charms  that  Thera  has  to 
show.  And  it  is  safe  to  say  that  every  such  visitor  will 
pick  his  way  gingerly  down  over  the  slippery  paving 
stones  to  the  landing  below  with  a  poignant  sense  of 
regret  at  leaving  this  beauty  spot  of  the  JEgean,  and 
sail  out  of  the  northern  passage  with  a  sigh,  look- 
ing back  at  the  lights  of  Thera,  on  the  rocky  height 
above  the  bay,  mingling  their  blinking  points  with 
the  steady  stars  of  the  warm  Mediterranean  night. 


CHAPTER  XIX.     NIOS;   PAROS; 
A  MIDNIGHT  MASS 


1 

^ 

-W^ 

"E  spent  Easter  Sunday  at  Paros.  It  proved  to 
be  a  mild  and  not  especially  remarkable  day 
in  the  local  church,  which  was  old  and  quaint  and 
possessed  of  many  highly  interesting  features  within 
and  without,  of  which  we  must  speak  later  on,  for  some 
of  its  portions  date  back  to  the  pagan  days.  Its  floor 
was  littered  with  the  aromatic  leaves  which  had  been 
dropped  and  trampled  under  foot  the  night  before 
by  the  worshipers  at  the  midnight  mass ;  for  it  ap- 
peared that  the  chief  observance  of  the  feast  in  the 
Greek  church  was  on  the  night  before  Easter,  rather 
than  on  the  day  itself.  Indeed  we  ourselves  had  been 
so  fortunate,  on  the  previous  evening,  as  to  attend 
this  quaint  nocturnal  ceremony  at  the  neighboring 
island  of  los,  or  Nios,  as  it  is  variously  called. 

Our  little  ship,  as  is  the  usual  custom  among  the 
Greeks,  had  a  shrine  in  the  end  of  its  saloon,  with  an 
icon,  and  a  lamp  was  perpetually  burning  before  it. 


352     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

The  Greek  takes  his  religion  seriously,  and  makes  it 
a  part  of  his  life  afloat  and  ashore,  it  would  seem.  On 
Good  Friday,  for  example,  our  national  flag  was  low- 
ered to  half-mast  and  kept  there  in  token  of  mourn- 
ing for  the  crucified  Lord,  until  the  church  proclaimed 
His  rising  from  the  dead,  when  it  once  again  mounted 
joyously  to  the  peak.  The  men  seemed  religiously 
inclined,  and  it  was  in  deference  to  a  request  of  the 
united  crew,  preferred  while  we  lay  in  the  harbor  of 
Santorin,  that  it  was  decided  to  run  north  from  that 
island  to  Nios,  which  was  not  far  away  and  which 
possessed  one  of  the  best  harbors  in  the  ^gean,  in 
order  that  the  native  sailors  and  the  captain  might 
observe  the  churchly  festival  according  to  custom  —  a 
request  that  was  the  more  readily  granted  because  we 
were  all  rather  anxious  to  see  the  Easter-eve  ceremony 
at  its  climax.  Those  who  had  witnessed  it  in  previous 
years  vouched  for  it  as  highly  interesting,  and  such 
proved  to  be  the  fact ;  for  between  the  ceremony 
itself  and  the  excitement  of  reaching  the  scene,  this 
evening  furnished  one  of  the  most  enjoyable  of  all  our 
island  experiences. 

In  reply  to  questions  touching  upon  the  remoteness 
of  the  church  at  Nios  from  the  landing,  the  second 
officer,  who  spoke  Italian,  had  assured  us  with  a  high 
disregard  of  the  truth  that  it  was  "  vicino  !  vicino  !  " 
It  was  pitch  dark  before  we  neared  Nios,  however, 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  353 

and  as  the  moon  was  due  to  be  late  in  rising  that  night 
we  got  no  warning  glimpse  of  the  land,  but  were  made 
aware  of  its  approach  only  by  a  shapeless  bulk  in  the 
dark  which  suddenly  appeared  on  either  hand,  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor  being  vaguely  indicated  by  a 
single  light,  past  which  we  felt  our  way  at  little  more 
than  a  drifting  pace  until  we  were  dimly  conscious  of 
hills  all  about,  half-guessed  rather  than  visible  in  the 
gloom.  Then,  faint  and  far  away,  we  began  to  hear 
the  clamor  of  the  village  bells,  rung  with  that  insistent 
clatter  so  familiar  to  those  acquainted  with  southern 
European  churches.  That  their  notes  sounded  so  dis- 
tant gave  us  some  idea  at  tne  outset  that  the  mate's 
"  vicino  "  might  prove  to  be  a  rather  misleading  pro- 
mise, but  very  little  was  to  be  told  by  the  sound,  save 
that  the  churches  from  which  the  bells  were  pealing 
lay  off  somewhere  to  the  right  and  apparently  up  a 
hill.  Light  there  was  none,  not  even  a  glimmer ;  and 
our  three  dories  put  ofif  for  the  shore  over  an  inky  sea 
in  becoming  and  decorous  silence,  toward  the  point 
where  a  gloom  even  more  dense  than  the  sky  showed 
that  there  was  land.  The  effect  of  it  all  was  curious  and 
had  not  a  little  of  solemnity  in  it,  as  we  groped  our  way 
to  shore  with  careful  oars  and  then  felt  about  in  the 
dark  for  the  landing.  The  forward  boat  soon  announced 
that  some  stone  steps  leading  upward  from  the  water 
had  been  found,  and  the  rowers  immediately  raised 


354    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

a  shout  for  lights,  as  one  by  one  we  were  handed  up 
the  sHmy  stairs  to  the  top  of  a  broad  stone  quay,  on 
which  some  white  buildings  could  be  dimly  seen.  A 
lantern  did  materialize  mysteriously  from  some  nook 
among  the  ghostly  houses,  and  came  bobbing  down 
to  the  water's  edge,  serving  little  purpose,  however, 
save  to  make  the  rest  of  the  darkness  more  obscure. 
By  its  diminished  ray  the  party  were  assembled  in  a 
compact  body,  and  received  admonition  to  keep  to- 
gether and  to  follow  as  closely  as  possible  the  leader, 
who  bore  the  light. 

These  instructions,  while  simple  enough  to  give, 
proved  decidedly  difficult  to  follow.  The  moon  was 
far  below  the  horizon,  and  the  stars,  while  numerous 
and  brilliant,  gave  little  aid  to  strangers  in  a  strange 
land,  who  could  see  no  more  than  that  they  were  on 
a  deserted  pier  flanked  by  dim  warehouses,  and  a 
long  distance  from  the  bells  which  were  calling  the 
devout  to  midnight  prayer.  The  lantern  set  off  along 
the  flagstones  of  the  deserted  hamlet ;  and  after  it  in 
single  file  clattered  the  rest  of  us,  keeping  up  as  best 
we  could.  We  emerged  in  short  order  from  the  little 
group  of  huts  by  the  wharf  and  came  out  into  a  vast 
and  silent  country,  where  all  was  darker  than  before, 
save  where  the  leading  lantern  pursued  its  fantastic 
way  upward  over  what  turned  out  to  be  a  roughly 
paved  mule  track  leading  into  a  hill.  Like  most  mule 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  355 

tracks,  it  mounted  by  steps,  rather  than  by  inclines, 
and  the  progress  of  the  long  file  of  our  party  was  slow 
and  painful,  necessitating  frequent  halts  on  the  part 
of  the  guide  with  the  lantern,  while  a  warning  word 
was  constantly  being  passed  back  along  the  stumbling 
line  of  pedestrians  as  each  in  turn  stubbed  his  toes 
over  an  unlooked-for  rise  in  the  grade.  There  was 
little  danger  of  wandering  off  the  path,  for  it  was  bor- 
dered by  high  banks.  The  one  trouble  was  to  keep 
one's  feet  and  not  to  stumble  as  we  climbed  in  the 
dark,  able  scarcely  to  see  one  another  and  much  less 
to  see  anything  of  the  path.  The  bells  ceased  to  ring 
as  we  proceeded,  and  even  that  dim  clue  to  the  dis- 
tance of  the  town  was  lost.  Decidedly  it  was  weird, 
this  stumbling  walk  up  an  unknown  and  unfrequented 
island  path  in  the  dead  of  night ;  for  it  was  long  past 
eleven  of  the  clock,  and  the  Easter  mass,  as  we  knew, 
should  reach  its  most  interesting  point  at  about  twelve. 
Knowing  this  we  made  such  haste  as  we  could  and 
the  little  town  of  Nios  stole  upon  us  ere  we  were 
aware,  its  silent  buildings  of  gray  closing  in  upon  the 
road  and  surrounding  us  without  our  realizing  their 
presence,  until  a  sudden  turning  of  the  way  caused 
the  lantern  far  ahead  to  disappear  entirely  from  our 
view  in  the  mazes  of  the  town. 

It  was  as  deserted  as  the  little  wharf  had  been. 
Moreover  it  was  as  crooked  as'  it  was  dark.  Here  and 


356    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

there  an  open  doorway  gave  out  across  the  way  a 
single  bar  of  yellow  light,  but  most  of  the  habitations 
were  as  silent  as  the  tomb,  their  owners  and  occu- 
pants being  in  church  long  before.  On  and  on  through 
a  seeming  labyrinth  of  little  streets  we  wound,  the 
long  thread  of  the  party  serving  as  the  sole  clue  to 
the  way,  as  did  Ariadne's  cord  ;  for  the  lantern  was 
never  visible  to  the  rear  guard  now,  owing  to  the 
turns  and  twists  of  the  highway.  Twice  we  met  be- 
lated church-goers  coming  down  from  side  paths  with 
their  tiny  lanterns,  and  the  utter  astonishment  on 
their  faces  at  beholding  this  unexpected  inundation 
of  foreigners  at  that  unearthly  hour  of  night  was  as 
amusing  as  it  was  natural.  Once  the  thread  of  the 
party  was  broken  at  a  corner,  and  for  an  anxious 
moment  there  was  a  council  of  war  as  to  which  street 
to  take.  It  was  a  lucky  guess,  however,  for  a  sudden 
turn  brought  the  laggards  out  of  the  obscurity  and 
into  a  lighted  square  before  the  doors  of  the  church 
itself  —  a  tiny  church,  white  walled  and  low  roofed, 
and  filled  apparently  to  its  doors,  while  from  its  open 
portals  trickled  the  monotonous  chant  of  a  male  choir, 
the  voices  always  returning  to  a  well-marked  and  not 
unmelodious  refrain. 

In  some  mysterious  way,  room  was  made  for  us  in 
the  stifling  church,  crowded  as  it  was  with  men  and 
women.   Candles  furnished  the  only  light.    On  the 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  357 

right  a  choir  of  men  and  boys,  led  by  the  local  school- 
master, chanted  their  unending,  haunting  minor  lit- 
any. An  old  and  bespectacled  priest  peered  down 
over  the  congregation  from  the  door  of  the  iconosta- 
sis.  Worshipers  came  and  went.  The  men  seemed 
especially  devout,  taking  up  the  icon  before  the  en- 
trance and  kissing  it  passionately  and  repeatedly. 
On  each  of  us  as  we  entered  was  pressed  a  slender 
taper  of  yellow  wax,  perhaps  a  foot  in  length,  and  we 
stood  crowded  in  the  little  auditorium  holding  these 
before  us  expectantly,  and  regarded  with  lively  and 
good-humored  curiosity  by  the  good  people  within. 
Presently  the  priest  came  forward  from  the  door  of 
the  altar-screen  with  his  candle  alight,  which  was  the 
signal  for  an  excited  scramble  by  a  dozen  small  boys 
nearest  him  to  get  their  tapers  lighted  first  —  after 
which  the  fire  ran  from  candle  to  candle  until  every- 
body bore  his  tiny  torch  ;  and  following  the  old  priest, 
we  all  trooped  out  into  the  square  before  the  church, 
wh^re  the  service  continued. 

That  was  a  sight  not  easily  to  be  forgotten  —  the 
tiny  square,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  the  cata- 
falque of  Christ,  while  all  around  stood  the  throng  of 
worshipers,  each  bearing  his  flaring  taper,  the  whole 
place  flooded  with  a  yellow  glow.  The  monotone  of 
the  service  continued  as  before.  The  gentle  night 
breeze  sufficed  now  and  then  to  put  out  an  unshel- 


358     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

tered  candle  here  and  there,  but  as  often  as  this 
occurred  the  bystanders  gave  of  their  fire,  and  the 
illumination  was  renewed  as  often  as  interrupted. 

The  quaint  service  culminated  with  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  priest  that  Christ  had  risen,  —  "  Christos 
aneste,"  —  at  which  magic  words  all  restraint  was 
thrown  off  and  the  worshipers  abandoned  them- 
selves to  transports  of  holy  joy.  A  stalwart  man  seized 
the  bell-rope  that  dangled  outside  the  church  and  rang 
a  lively  toccata  on  the  multiple  bells  above,  while  ex- 
uberant boys  let  fly  explosive  torpedoes  at  the  walls 
of  neighboring  houses,  making  a  merry  din  after  the 
true  Mediterranean  fashion ;  for  the  religious  festi- 
vals of  all  southern  countries  appear  to  be  held  fit 
occasions  for  demonstrations  akin  unto  those  with 
which  we  are  wont  to  observe  our  own  national  birth- 
day. We  were  soon  aware  that  other  churches  of  the 
vicinity  had  reached  the  "  Christos  aneste"  at  about 
the  same  hour,  for  distant  bells  and  other  firecrackers 
and  torpedoes  speedily  announced  the  rising  of  the 
Lord. 

Doubtless  a  part  of  the  Easter  abandon  is  due  to 
the  reaction  from  the  rigorous  keeping  of  Lent  among 
the  Greeks,  as  well  as  to  a  devout  sentiment  that  re- 
news itself  annually  at  this  festival  with  a  fervor  that 
might  well  betoken  the  first  novel  discovery  of  eter- 
nal salvation  as  a  divine  truth.  The  Greek  Lent  is  an 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  359 

austere  season,  in  which  the  abstinence  from  food  and 
wine  is  astonishingly  thorough.  Indeed,  it  has  been 
reported  by  various  travelers  in  Hellas  in  years  past 
that  they  were  seriously  inconvenienced  by  the  in- 
ability they  met,  especially  in  Holy  Week,  to  procure 
sufficient  food  ;  for  the  peasantry  were  unanimously 
fasting,  and  unexpected  wayfarers  in  the  interior  could 
find  but  little  cheer.  The  native  manages  to  exist  on 
surprisingly  little  sustenance  during  the  forty  days. 
On  the  arrival  of  Easter  it  is  not  strange  that  he  casts 
restraint  to  the  winds  and  manifests  a  delight  that  is 
obviously  unbounded.  However,  it  need  not  be  in- 
ferred from  this  that  undue  license  prevails,  for  this 
apparently  was  not  the  case  —  not  in  Nios,  at  any 
rate.  The  service,  after  the  interruption  afforded  by 
bells  and  cannonading,  resumed  its  course,  and  was 
said  to  endure  until  three  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  a 
fact  which  might  seem  to  indicate  that  the  Easter 
pleasuring  was  capable  of  a  decent  restraint  and  post- 
ponement, although  the  Lord  had  officially  risen  and 
death  was  swallowed  up  in  victory. 

Our  own  devotion  was  not  equal  to  the  task  of 
staying  through  this  long  mass,  as  it  was  already  well 
past  the  midnight  hour,  and  we  had  made  a  long  and 
strenuous  day  of  it.  So,  with  repeated  exchanges  of 
"  Christos  aneste  "  between  ourselves  and  the  vil- 
lagers, we  set  out  again  through  the  narrow  byways 


36o     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

of  the  town,  and  down  over  the  rough  mule  path  to 
the  ship,  each  of  us  bearing  his  flaring  taper  and 
shielding  it  as  well  as  possible  from  the  night  wind ; 
for  the  sailors  were  bent  on  getting  some  of  that 
sacred  flame  aboard  alive,  and  in  consequence  saw  to 
it  that  extinguished  candles  were  promptly  relighted 
lest  we  lose  altogether  the  precious  fire.  We  made  a 
long  and  ghostly  procession  of  winking  lights  as  we 
streamed  down  over  the  hillside  and  out  to  the  boats 
—  a  fitting  culmination  to  one  of  the  most  curious 
experiences  which  the  ^gean  vouchsafed  us. 

We  found  the  "red  eggs"  peculiar  to  the  Greek 
Easter  awaiting  us  when  we  came  aboard  —  eggs, 
hard-boiled  and  colored  with  beet  juice  or  some  simi- 
lar coloring  matter,  bowls  of  which  were  destined  to 
become  a  familiar  sight  during  the  week  or  two  that 
followed  the  Easter  season.  The  Greeks  maintain  that 
this  is  a  commemoration  of  a  miracle  which  was  once 
performed  to  convince  a  skeptical  woman  of  the  real- 
ity of  the  resurrection.  She  was  walking  home,  it 
seems,  with  an  apron  full  of  eggs  which  she  had 
bought,  when  she  met  a  friend  whose  countenance 
expressed  unusual  rejoicing,  and  who  ran  to  meet 
her,  crying,  "  Have  you  heard  the  news  ?  "  "  Surely 
not,"  was  the  reply.  "What  is  this  news?"  "Why, 
Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  !"  "  Indeed,"  responded  the 
skeptic,  "  that  I  cannot  believe ;  nor  shall  I  believe  it 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  361 

unless  the  eggs  that  I  carry  in  my  apron  shall  have 
turned  red."  And  red  they  proved  to  be  when  she 
looked  at  them ! 

Owing  to  the  exhaustion  due  to  the  festivities  of 
the  night  before,  we  found  Easter  Sunday  at  Paros  a 
quiet  day  indeed.  The  streets  of  the  little  town  proved 
to  be  practically  deserted,  for  it  was  a  day  of  home- 
keeping,  and  no  doubt  one  of  feasting.  The  occa- 
sional vicious  snap  of  a  firecracker  was  to  be  heard 
as  we  landed  on  the  mole  that  serves  the  chief  town 
of  Paros  for  a  wharf  and  started  for  a  short  Sunday 
morning  ramble  through  the  streets.  From  the  land- 
ing stage  the  most  conspicuous  object  in  Paros  was 
a  large  white  church  not  far  from  the  water,  rejoicing 
in  the  name  of  the  "  Virgin  of  a  Hundred  Gates,"  as 
we  were  told  we  should  interpret  the  epithet  "  heka- 
tonpyliani."  It  proved  to  be  a  sort  of  triple  church, 
possessing  side  chapels  on  the  right  and  left  of  the 
main  auditorium,  and  almost  as  large.  In  that  at  the 
right  was  to  be  seen  a  cruciform  baptismal  font,  very 
venerable  and  only  a  little  raised  from  the  level  of 
the  floor,  indicating  the  uses  to  which  this  apartment 
of  the  church  was  put.  The  presence  of  ancient  mar- 
ble columns  incorporated  into  this  early  Christian 
edifice  was  likewise  striking.  In  the  main  church  the 
most  noticeable  thing  was  the  employment  of  a  stone 
altar-screen,  or  iconostasis,  with  three  doors  leading 


362     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

into  the  apse  behind  instead  of  the  customary  single 
one,  an  arrangement  which  has  often  been  com- 
mented upon  as  resembling  the  proskenion  of  the 
ancient  theatre.  It  was  all  deserted,  and  the  air  was 
heavy  with  old  incense  and  with  the  balsamic  per- 
fume of  the  leaves  and  branches  that  had  fallen  to 
the  floor  and  been  trampled  upon  during  the  mass  of 
the  previous  night.  It  was  all  very  still,  very  damp 
and  cool,  and  evidently  very  old,  doubtless  supplant- 
ing some  previous  pagan  shrine. 

In  the  court  before  the  church  stood  a  sort  of  aban- 
doned monastery,  as  at  the  pass  of  Daphne,  only  this 
one  was  spotless  white,  and  with  its  walls  served  to 
shut  in  completely  the  area  in  front  of  the  church 
itself.  In  a  portion  of  the  buildings  of  this  inclosure 
is  a  small  museum,  chiefly  notable  for  inscriptions, 
one  of  which  refers  to  Archilochus,  the  writer  of  Iam- 
bic verse,  who  lived  in  Paros  in  the  seventh  century 
before  the  birth  of  Christ. 

The  chief  fame  of  Paros  was,  of  course,  for  its  mar- 
bles. The  quarries  whence  these  superb  blocks  came 
lay  off  to  the  northeast,  we  were  aware  ;  and  had  time 
only  allowed,  they  might  have  been  explored  with 
profit.  The  Parian  marble  was  the  favorite  one  for 
statues,  owing  to  its  incomparable  purity  and  trans- 
lucence,  and  the  facility  with  which  it  could  be  worked 
up  to  a  high  finish.    It  was  quarried  under  ground, 


OLD    COLUMNS    IN   CHURCH.     PAROS 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  363 

and  thus  derived  its  designation,  "  lychnites,"  or 
"  quarried-by-candlelight."  Those  who  have  visited 
the  subterranean  chambers  formed  by  the  men  who 
anciently  took  marble  from  the  spot  relate  that  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  quarries  is  fraught  with  considerable 
interest  and  with  not  a  little  danger,  owing  to  the 
complex  nature  of  the  galleries  and  the  varying  levels. 
In  wandering  around  the  little  modern  town  which 
occupies  the_site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Paros,  and  bears 
the  name  of  Paroikia,  we  found  not  a  little  color  to 
delight  the  eye,  although  the  streets  were  generally 
rather  muddy  and  squalid.  On  the  southerly  side  of 
the  harbor,  where  the  basic  rock  of  the  island  rises 
to  a  considerable  height,  there  was  anciently  a  small 
acropolis,  which  is  still  crowned  with  a  rather  mas- 
sive tower  built  by  the  Franks  out  of  bits  of  ancient 
marble  structures.  From  the  outside,  the  curious  log- 
cabin  effect  caused  by  using  marble  columns  for  the 
walls,  each  drum  laid  with  ends  outward,  was  most 
apparent  and  striking.  Within  we  found  a  tiny  shrine, 
deserted  as  the  great  church  had  been,  but  still  giv- 
ing evidence  of  recent  religious  activity.  Aside  from 
the  remnants  of  old  temples,  serving  as  the  marble 
logs  of  this  Prankish  stronghold,  there  seemed  to  be 
little  in  Paros  to  recall  the  days  when  she  was  one  of 
the  richest  of  all  the  Athenian  tributaries.  A  few  pre- 
historic houses  have  been  uncovered  and  several  an- 


364     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

cient  tombs.  But  the  most  lasting  of  all  the  classic 
monuments  are  the  quarries,  now  deserted,  but  still 
revealing  the  marks  of  the  ancient  chisels,  whence 
came  the  raw  material  for  most  of  the  famous  Greek 
sculptures  preserved  to  us. 

To  us,  seated  on  the  pebbly  beach  and  idly  listen- 
ing to  the  lapping  of  the  ^gean  waves,  as  we  sunned 
ourselves  and  awaited  the  time  for  embarking,  there 
appeared  a  native,  gorgeous  in  clothes  of  a  suspi- 
ciously American  cut.  He  drew  near,  smiling  frankly, 
and  with  a  comprehensive  gesture  which  explicitly 
included  the  ladies  in  his  query,  said :  "  Where  do 
you  fellers  come  from?"  He  had  served  in  the  Amer- 
ican navy,  it  appeared,  and  had  voyaged  as  far  as 
the  Philippines.  Other  Parians  ranged  themselves  at 
a  respectful  distance  and  gazed  in  open-mouthed 
admiration  at  their  fellow  townsman  who  understood 
how  to  talk  with  the  foreigners,  and  who  walked  along 
with  a  lady  on  either  side,  whom  he  constantly  ad- 
dressed as  "you  fellers"  to  their  unbounded  amuse- 
ment and  delight.  We  convoyed  him  to  a  wayside 
inn  near  the  quay,  under  two  spindling  plane  trees, 
and  plied  him  with  coffee  as  a  reward  for  his  courtesy 
and  interest ;  and  later  we  left  him  standing  with  bared 
head  watching  our  little  ship  steam  away  westward, 
toward  the  setting  sun  and  that  land  to  which  he 
hoped  one  day  to  follow  us  once  more. 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  365 

Our  return  to  Athens  from  our  island  cruise  was 
by  way  of  the  southeastern  shore  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, touching  at  Monemvasia,  a  rocky  promontory 
near  the  most  southern  cape,  and  connected  with  the 
mainland  by  a  very  narrow  isthmus,  which  it  has 
even  been  necessary  to  bridge  at  one  point ;  so  that, 
strictly  speaking,  Monemvasia  is  an  island,  rather 
than  a  promontory  or  peninsula.  It  is  a  most  strik- 
ing rock,  resembling  Gibraltar  in  shape,  though 
vastly  smaller.  In  fact,  like  Gibraltar,  it  has  the  his- 
tory of  an  important  strategic  point,  though  it  is  such 
no  longer.  Its  summit  is  still  crowned  by  a  system 
of  defenses  built  by  the  Franks,  and  the  inclosure. 
which  includes  the  entire  top  of  the  rock,  also  con- 
tains a  ruined  church.  A  narrow  and  not  unpictur- 
esque  town  straggles  along  the  shore  directly  beneath 
the  towering  rock  itself,  much  as  the  town  of  Gibral- 
tar does,  and  in  it  may  be  seen  other  ruined  churches, 
belonging  to  the  Prankish  period  largely,  and  unused 
now.  The  entrance  to  this  village  is  through  a  for- 
midable stone  gateway  in  the  wall,  which  descends 
from  the  sheer  side  of  the  cliff  above.  A  steep  zig- 
zag path  leads  up  from  the  town  to  the  fort,  which 
although  deserted  is  kept  locked,  so  that  a  key  must 
be  procured  before  ascending. 

Those  who  have  seen  the  Norman  defenses  at  the 
promontory  of  Cefalu,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Sicily, 


366     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

will  recognize  at  once  a  striking  similarity  between 
that  place  and  this  Grecian  one,  not  only  from  a  to- 
pographical standpoint,  but  from  the  arrangement  of 
the  walls  at  the  top  and  lower  down  at  the  gateway 
that  bars  the  upward  path.  Cefalu,  however,  is  in  a 
more  ruinous  condition  than  this  Prankish  fortress 
to-day.  In  point  of  general  situation  and  view  from 
the  summit  the  two  are  certainly  very  similar,  with 
their  broad  outlook  over  sea  and  mainland.  The 
sheer  sides  of  the  promontory  made  it  a  practically 
inaccessible  citadel  from  nearly  every  direction,  save 
that  restricted  portion  up  which  the  path  ascends, 
and  the  defense  of  it  against  every  foe  but  starvation 
was  an  easy  matter.  Even  besiegers  found  it  no  easy 
thing  to  starve  out  the  garrison,  for  it  is  on  record 
that  the  stout  old  Crusader  Villehardouin  sat  down 
before  the  gates  of  Monemvasia  for  three  years  before 
the  inhabitants  were  forced  to  capitulate. 

The  name  of  Monemvasia  is  derived  from  the  fact 
that  the  isolated  rock  crowned  with  the  fortress  is 
connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  single  narrow  neck 
affording  the  only  entrance.  Hence  the  Greek  f^-ovv 
l/xySao-is  (mone  emvasis)  was  combined  in  the  modern 
pronunciation  to  form  the  not  unmusical  name  of  the 
place  and  has  a  perfectly  natural  explanation.  More- 
over the  same  name,  further  shortened,  lives  again  in 
the  name  of  "  Malmsey  "  wine,  which  is  made  from 


A  MIDNIGHT  MASS  367 

grapes  grown  on  rocky  vineyards  and  allowed  to 
wither  before  gathering,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  old 
Monemvasia  wine  industry. 

Of  course  the  village  at  the  base  of  the  cliff  is  wholly 
unimportant  now.  Malmsey  wine  is  no  longer  the  chief 
product  of  this  one  solitary  spot,  but  comes  from  San- 
torin,  Portugal,  Madeira,  and  a  dozen  other  places, 
while  Monemvasia  and  the  derivation  of  the  word  are 
largely  forgotten.  The  town  has  sunk  into  a  state  of 
poverty,  and  as  for  the  fort,  it  is  capable  neither  by 
artifice  nor  by  natural  surroundings  of  defending  any- 
thing of  value,  and  hence  is  of  no  strategic  impor- 
tance. It  has  had  its  day  and  probably  will  never  have 
another.  It  is,  however,  ruggedly  beautiful,  and  the 
town,  if  degraded  and  half  ruined,  is  still  highly 
picturesque,  though  unfortunately  seldom  visited  by 
Greek  pilgrimages.  It  formed  a  fitting  close  for  our 
island  cruise,  and  indeed  it  is,  as  we  discovered,  really 
an  island  itself,  the  ribbon  of  isthmus  connecting  it 
with  the  Peloponnesus  having  been  severed  years  ago, 
when  Monemvasia  was  worthy  to  be  counted  a  strong- 
hold. The  gap  in  the  land  is  now  spanned  by  a  per- 
manent bridge,  so  that  practically  Monemvasia  is  a 
promontory  still,  lofty  and  rugged,  but  not  ungrace- 
ful ;  and  its  imposing  bulk  loomed  large  astern  as  we 
steamed  back  along  the  coast  toward  the  Piraeus  and 
home. 


CHAPTER  XX.     CORFU 


THE  city  of  Patras,  from  which  port  we  are  about 
to  take  leave  of  Greece,  is  probably  the  most 
incongruous  city  in  the  kingdom.  To  be  sure  it  is 
second  in  importance  to  Piraeus,  and  the  latter  city  is 
quite  as  frankly  commercial.  But  the  proximity  of  the 
Piraeus  to  Athens  and  the  presence  of  the  Acropolis, 
crowned  with  its  ruined  temples  always  in  the  field  of 
view,  conspire  to  take  a  little  of  the  modern  gloss  oti 
the  major  port,  and  thus  prevent  it  from  displaying 
an  entire  lack  of  harmony  with  those  classic  attri- 
butes which  are  the  chief  charm  of  Hellas.  Patras 
has  no  such  environment.  It  has  no  such  history.  It 
is  a  busy  seaport  town,  a  railroad  centre,  and  it  is 
about  everything  that  the  rest  of  Greece  is  not.  It 
even  has  a  trolley  line,  which  no  other  Greek  city 
at  this  writing  has,  although  of  course  the  years 
will  bring  that  convenience  to  Athens,  as  they  have 
already  brought  the  third-rail  inter-urban  road  to  the 
sea. 


CORFU  369 

Patras  appears  to  have  been  as  uninteresting  in 
antiquity  as  it  is  to-day,  though  doubtless  from  its  ad- 
vantageous position  on  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  it  was  al- 
ways a  more  or  less  prosperous  place.  A  very  dubious 
tradition  says  that  the  Apostle  Andrew  was  crucified 
here ;  and  whether  he  was  or  not,  St.  Andrew  has  re- 
mained the  patron  saint  of  the  town.  In  any  event, 
Patras  shares  with  Corinth  the  celebrity  of  being  one 
of  the  earliest  seats  of  Christianity  in  Greece,  although 
it  is  a  celebrity  which  Corinth  so  far  overshadows  that 
poor  Patras  is  generally  forgotten.  It  probably  figures 
to  most  Hellenic  travelers,  as  it  has  in  our  own  case, 
as  either  an  entrance  or  an  exit,  and  nothing  more. 
Still,  after  one  has  spent  a  fortnight  or  more  in  the 
wilds  of  the  Peloponnesian  mountains,  an  evening 
stroll  through  the  brilliantly  lighted  streets  of  the 
city  comes  not  amiss,  and  gives  one  the  sense  of  civ- 
ilization once  more  after  a  prolonged  experience  of 
the  pastoral  and  archaic. 

It  was  stated  early  in  this  book  that  probably  the 
ideal  departure  from  Greece  is  by  way  of  the  Piraeus, 
as  by  that  route  one  leaves  with  the  benediction  of 
the  Acropolis,  which  must  be  reckoned  the  crowning 
glory  of  it  all.  But  since  we  have  elected  to  enter  by 
the  eastern  gate  in  voyaging  through  these  pages,  it 
is  our  lot  to  depart  by  the  western,  and  to  journey 
back  to  Italy  by  way  of  Corfu,  the  island  of  Nausicaa. 


370    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

It  is  not  to  be  regretted,  after  all.  One  might  look  far 
for  a  lovelier  view  than  that  to  be  had  from  the  harbor 
of  Patras.  The  narrow  strait  that  leads  into  the  Corin- 
thian Gulf  affords  a  splendid  panorama  of  mountain 
and  hill  on  the  farther  side,  as  the  northern  coast 
sweeps  away  toward  the  east ;  while  outside,  toward 
the  setting  sun,  one  may  see  the  huge  blue  shapes  of 
" shady Zakynthos," and  "low-lying"  Ithaca  —  which 
it  has  always  struck  me  is  not  low-lying  at  all,  but 
decidedly  hilly.  Through  the  straits  and  past  these 
islands  the  steamers  thread  their  way,  turning  north- 
ward into  the  Adriatic  and  heading  for  Corfu  — 
generally,  alas,  by  night. 

The  redeeming  feature  of  this  arrangement  is  that, 
while  it  robs  one  of  a  most  imposing  view  of  receding 
Greece,  it  gives  a  compensatingly  beautiful  approach 
to  Corfu  on  the  following  morning ;  and  there  is  not 
a  more  charming  island  in  the  world.  It  lies  close  to 
the  Albanian  shore,  and  with  reference  to  the  voyage 
between  Patras  and  Brindisi  it  is  almost  exactly  half 
way.  In  Greek  it  still  bears  the  name  of  Kerkyra,  a 
survival  of  the  ancient  Corcyra,  the  name  by  which 
it  was  known  in  the  days  when  Athens  and  Corinth 
fought  over  it.  The  ancients  afifected  to  believe  it  the 
island  mentioned  in  the  Odyssey  as  **  Scheria,"  the 
Phaeacian  land  ruled  over  by  King  Alcinoos  ;  and 
there  is  no  very  good  reason  why  we  also  should  not 


CORFU  371 

accept  this  story  and  call  it  the  very  land  where  the 
wily  Odysseus  was  cast  ashore,  the  more  especially 
since  his  ship,  converted  into  stone  by  the  angry  Posei- 
don, is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  mouth  of  a  tiny  bay  not 
far  from  the  city !  We  may  easily  drive  down  to  it 
and,  if  we  choose,  pick  out  the  spot  on  shore  where 
the  hero  was  wakened  from  his  dreams  by  the  shouts 
of  Nausicaa  and  the  maids  as  they  played  at  ball  on 
the  beach  while  the  washing  was  drying. 

In  the  ancient  days,  when  navigation  was  conducted 
in  primitive  fashion  without  the  aid  of  the  mariner's 
compass,  and  when  the  only  security  lay  in  creeping 
from  island  to  island  and  hugging  the  shore,  Corcyra 
became  a  most  important  strategic  point.  In  their 
conquest  of  the  west,  the  Greeks  w^ere  wont  to  sail 
northward  as  far  as  this  island,  skirting  the  main- 
land of  Greece,  and  thence  to  strike  ofT  westw^ard  to 
the  heel  of  Italy,  where  the  land  again  afforded  them 
guidance  and  supplies  until  they  reached  the  straits 
of  Messina.  So  that  the  route  of  Odysseus  homeward 
from  the  haunts  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis  and  the  isle 
Ortygia  was  by  no  means  an  unusual  or  roundabout 
one.  This  course  of  western  navigation  gave  rise 
to  continual  bickering  among  the  great  powers  of 
old  as  to  the  control  of  Corcyra,  and  Thucydides 
makes  the  contention  over  the  island  the  real  starting- 
point  of  the  difficulties  that  culminated  in  the  Pelo- 


372     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

ponnesian  war  and  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Athenian 
empire. 

Modern  Corfu  has  a  very  good  outer  harbor,  suit- 
able for  large  craft,  although  landing,  as  usual,  is 
possible  only  by  means  of  small  boats.  The  declara- 
tion in  Bsedeker  that  the  boatmen  are  insolent  and 
rapacious  appears  no  longer  to  be  true.  The  matter 
of  ferriage  to  shore  seems  to  have  been  made  the 
subject  of  wise  regulation,  and  the  charge  for  the 
short  row  is  no  longer  extortionate.  From  the  water 
the  city  presents  a  decidedly  formidable  appearance, 
being  protected  by  some  massive  fortifications  which 
were  doubtless  regarded  as  impregnable  in  their  day, 
but  which  are  unimportant  now.  They  are  of  Vene- 
tian build,  as  are  so  many  of  the  fortresses  in  Greek 
waters.  Aside  from  the  frowning  ramparts  of  these 
ancient  defenses,  the  town  is  a  peaceful  looking  place 
in  the  extreme,  with  its  tall  white  and  gray  houses, 
green-shuttered  and  trim.  It  is  a  town  by  no  means 
devoid  of  picturesqueness,  although  it  will  take  but 
a  few  moments'  inspection  to  convince  the  visitor  that 
Corfu  is  by  nature  Italian  rather  than  Greek,  despite 
its  incorporation  in  the  domains  of  King  George. 
Corfu  has  always  been  in  closer  touch  with  western 
Europe  than  with  the  East,  and  it  is  doubtless  because 
she  has  enjoyed  so  intimate  a  connection  with  Italy 
that  her  external  aspects  are  anything  but  Hellenic. 


CORFU  373 

Moreover  the  English  were  for  some  years  the  suze- 
rains of  the  island,  and  have  left  their  mark  on  it,  for 
the  island's  good,  although  it  is  many  years  since  the 
British  government  honorably  surrendered  the  land 
to  Greece,  in  deference  to  the  wish  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. 

Despite  the  Venetian  character  of  the  fortresses,  they 
remind  one  continually  of  Gibraltar,  although  of  course 
infinitely  less  extensive.  Particularly  is  this  true  of  the 
"  fortezza  nuova,"  which  it  is  well  worth  while  to  ex- 
plore because  of  the  fine  view  over  the  city  and  harbor 
to  be  had  from  its  highest  point.  A  custodian  resides 
in  a  tiny  cabin  on  the  height  and  offers  a  perfectly 
needless  telescope  in  the  hope  of  fees,  although  it  is 
doubtful  that  many  ever  care  to  supplement  the  eye 
by  recourse  to  the  glass.  The  prospect  certainly  is  in- 
comparably beautiful.  Below  lies  the  city  with  its  nar- 
row streets  and  lofty  buildings,  and  before  it  the  bay 
decked  with  white  ships,  contrasting  with  the  almost 
incredible  blue  of  the  water,  for  the  ocean  is  nowhere 
bluer  than  at  Corfu.  Across  the  straits  not  many  miles 
away  rises  the  bluff  and  mountainous  mainland  of  Al- 
bania and  Epirus,  stretching  off  north  and  south  into 
illimitable  distances.  Behind  the  town  the  country  rolls 
away  into  most  fertile  swales  and  meadows,  bounded 
on  the  far  north  by  a  high  and  apparently  barren 
mountain.  All  the  narrow  southern  end  of  the  island  is 


374     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

a  veritable  garden,  well  watered,  well  wooded,  covered 
with  grass  and  flowers,  and  rising  here  and  there  into 
low,  tree-clad  hills.  Trim  villas  dot  the  landscape,  and 
on  a  distant  hill  may  be  seen  from  afar  the  gleam- 
ing walls  of  the  palace  which  belonged  to  the  ill-fated 
Empress  of  Austria. 

From  the  fortress  southward  toward  the  bay  where 
lies  the  "  ship  of  Ulysses,"  there  runs  a  beautiful  es- 
planade along  the  water  front,  lined  with  trees  and 
flanked  on  the  landward  side  by  villas  with  most  luxu- 
riant gardens.  Even  though  the  British  occupation 
came  to  an  end  as  long  ago  as  1865,  the  roadways  of 
the  island  bear  the  marks  of  the  British  thoroughness, 
and  make  riding  in  Corfu  a  pleasure.  The  houses 
along  the  way  are  largely  of  the  summer-residence 
variety,  the  property  of  wealthy  foreigners  rather 
than  of  native  Corfiotes  ;  and  their  gardens,  especially 
in  the  springtime,  are  a  riot  of  roses,  tumbling  over 
the  high  walls,  or  clambering  all  over  the  houses 
themselves,  and  making  the  air  heavy  with  their  fra- 
grance. The  trees  are  no  less  beautiful,  and  the  roads 
are  well  shaded  by  them.  After  a  month  or  so  of  the 
comparatively  treeless  and  often  barren  mainland  of 
Greece,  this  exuberant  Eden  is  a  source  of  keen  en- 
joyment with  its  wanton  profligacy  of  bloom. 

It  cannot  be  more  than  two  miles,  and  perhaps  it 
is  rather  less,  over  a  smooth  road  and  through  a  con- 


"SHIP   OF    ULYSSES."     CORFU 


CORFU  375 

tinuous  succession  of  gardens,  from  the  town  of  Corfu 
out  to  the  little  knoll  which  overlooks  the  bay  and 
"  ship  of  Ulysses,"  and  the  view  down  on  that  most 
picturesque  islet  and  across  the  placid  waters  of  the 
narrow  arm  of  the  sea  in  which  it  lies,  furnishes  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  prospects  in  the  island.  The 
"  ship  "  itself  is  a  rather  diminutive  rock  not  far  from 
shore,  almost  completely  enshrouded  in  sombre,  slen- 
der cypresses,  which  give  it  its  supposed  similarity  to 
the  Phseacian  bark  of  the  wdly  Ithacan.  Nor  is  it  a 
similarity  that  is  entirely  imaginary.  Seen  from  a  dis- 
tance, the  pointed  trees  grouped  in  a  dark  mass  on 
this  tiny  isle  do  give  the  general  effect  of  a  vessel. 
Those  who  know  the  picture  called  the  "  Island  of 
Death  "  will  be  struck  at  once  with  the  similarity  be- 
tween the  "  ship"  and  the  painter's  ideal  of  the  abode 
of  shades  ;  and  with  the  best  of  reasons,  for  it  is  said 
that  this  island  was  the  model  employed.  Amidst 
the  dusk  of  the  crowded  trees  one  may  distinguish  a 
monastery,  tenanted  we  were  told  by  a  single  monk, 
while  on  a  neighboring  island,  closer  to  the  shore 
and  connected  therewith  by  a  sort  of  rocky  causeway, 
there  is  another  monastery  occupied  by  some  band 
of  religious  brothers.  This  island  also  is  not  without 
its  charms,  but  the  eye  always  returns  to  that  mourn- 
ful abandoned  "  ship,"  which  surpasses  in  its  weird 
fascination  any  other  thing  that  Corfu  has  to  show. 


376     GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

The  Villa  Achilleion,  which  lies  off  to  the  south- 
ward on  a  lofty  hill,  shares  with  the  ship  of  Ulysses 
the  attention  of  the  average  visitor,  and  worthily  so, 
not  only  because  of  the  great  beauty  of  the  villa  itself, 
with  its  mural  paintings  of  classic  subjects  and  its 
wonderful  gardens,  but  because  of  the  exquisite  view 
that  is  to  be  had  over  the  island  from  the  spot.  The 
lively  verdure,  the  vivid  blueness  of  the  sea,  and  the 
gloomy  rocks  of  the  Turkish  shore,  all  combine  to 
form  a  picture  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  As  for  the 
Achilleion  itself,  it  was  built  for  the  Empress  of  Aus- 
tria, who  was  assassinated  some  years  ago,  and  the 
estate  has  now,  I  believe,  passed  into  private  hands. 
The  road  to  it  is  excellent,  and  occasional  bits  of  the 
scenery  along  the  way  are  highly  picturesque,  with 
now  and  then  an  isolated  and  many-arched  campa- 
nile, adorned  with  its  multiple  bells  in  the  Greek  man- 
ner, obtruding  itself  unexpectedly  from  the  trees. 

There  are  unquestionably  many  rides  around  the 
island  that  are  quite  as  enjoyable  as  this,  but  the  ordi- 
nary visitor  is  doubtless  the  one  who  stops  over  for 
a  few  hours  only,  during  the  stay  of  his  steamer  in 
the  port,  and  therefore  has  little  time  for  more  than 
the  sights  described.  Those  who  are  able  to  make  the 
island  more  than  a  brief  way-station  on  the  way  to 
or  from  Greece  express  themselves  as  enchanted  with 
it,  and  the  number  of  attractive  villas  built  by  for- 


CORFU  377 

eigners  of  means  would  seem  to  emphasize  the  state- 
ment. Corfu  as  an  island  is  altogether  lovely. 

The  city  itself  has  already  been  referred  to  as  more 
Italian  than  Greek  in  appearance.  Nevertheless  it  is 
really  Greek,  and  its  shops  are  certainly  more  like  those 
of  Athens  than  like  those  of  Italy,  while  the  ordinary 
signboards  of  the  street  are  in  the  Greek  characters. 
It  is  the  height  of  the  houses,  the  narrowness  of  the 
streets,  the  occasional  archways,  and  the  fact  that  al- 
most everybody  can  speak  Italian,  that  give  the  un- 
mistakable Italian  touch  to  Corfu  after  one  has  seen 
the  broader  highways  and  lower  structures  of  Athens. 
But  Greco-Italian  as  it  is,  one  cannot  get  away  from 
the  fact  that,  after  all,  it  reminds  one  quite  as  much  of 
Gibraltar  as  of  anything.  The  town  does  this,  quite  as 
much  as  the  fortresses,  with  its  narrow  ways  and  its 
evident  cosmopolitanism.  The  shops,  although  devoted 
largely  to  Greek  merchandise,  are  a  good  deal  like 
the  Gibraltar  bazaars,  and  make  quite  as  irresistible  an 
appeal  to  the  pocket,  with  their  gorgeous  embroidered 
jackets,  blue  and  gold  vestments,  and  other  barbaric 
but  incredibly  magnificent  fripperies,  fresh  from  the 
tailor's  hand,  and  not,  as  at  Athens,  generally  the 
wares  of  second-hand  dealers.  To  see  peasant  jackets 
and  vests  of  red  and  blue,  and  heavily  ornamented 
with  gold  tracery,  go  to  Corfu.  Nothing  at  Athens 
approaches  the  Corfiote  display. 


378    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

There  are  some  archaeological  remains  at  Corfu, 
but  not  of  commanding  prominence ;  and  the  average 
visitor,  busied  with  the  contemplation  of  the  loveliness 
of  the  country  and  the  quaintness  of  the  town  for  a  few 
brief  hours,  probably  omits  to  hunt  them  up,  as  we 
ourselves  did.  The  most  obvious  monuments  of  the  past 
are  those  of  the  medieval  period,  the  Venetian  strong- 
holds that  served  to  protect  Corfu  when  the  island  was 
an  important  bulwark  against  the  Saracens.  Of  the 
days  when  the  rival  powers  of  classic  Greece  warred 
over  the  Corcyreans  and  their  fertile  island,  little  trace 
has  survived.  There  is  a  very  old  tomb  in  the  south- 
erly suburb  of  Kastrades  and  the  foundation  of  an 
ancient  temple,  but  neither  is  to  be  compared  for  in- 
terest with  the  host  of  monuments  of  equal  antiquity 
to  be  seen  in  Greece  and  even  in  Sicily.  Corfu,  like 
Italy,  has  suffered  a  loss  of  the  evidences  of  her  anti- 
quity by  being  so  constantly  on  the  great  highway  to 
western  Europe.  She  has  never  been  left  to  one  side, 
as  Greece  so  long  was.  Her  fertility  prevented  her  de- 
generating into  mere  barren  pasturage,  as  happened 
in  Hellas  proper,  and  her  situation  made  her  impor- 
tant all  through  the  Middle  Ages,  just  as  it  made  her 
important  during  the  expansion  period  of  the  Athenian 
empire.  And  as  Rome,  through  active  and  continuous 
existence,  has  gradually  eaten  up  her  own  ancient 
monuments  before  they  achieved  the  value  of  great 


CORFU  379 

age,  so  Corfu  has  lost  almost  entirely  all  trace  of  what 
the  ancient  Corcyreans  built ;  while  Athens,  through 
her  long  ages  of  unimportance,  preserved  much  of  her 
classic  monumental  glories  unimpaired,  and  thanks  to 
an  awakened  appreciation  of  them  will  cherish  them 
for  all  time. 

The  long  years  in  which  Greece  lay  fallow  and  de- 
serted now  appear  not  to  have  been  in  vain.  Through 
that  period  of  neglect  her  ancient  sites  and  monu- 
ments lay  buried  and  forgotten,  but  intact.  Men  were 
too  busy  exploring  and  expanding  elsewhere  to  waste 
a  thought  on  the  dead  past.  Even  the  revival  of  learn- 
ing, which  exhumed  the  classic  writings  from  the  ob- 
livion of  monkish  cells  and  made  the  literature  of 
Greece  live  again,  was  insuf^cient  to  give  back  to  the 
world  the  actual  physical  monuments  of  that  classic 
time.  It  has  remained  for  the  present  day,  when  the 
earth  has  been  all  but  completely  overrun  and  when 
men  have  found  a  dearth  of  new  worlds  to  conquer, 
that  we  have  had  the  time  and  the  interest  to  turn  back 
to  Greece,  sweep  away  the  rubbish  of  ages,  and  give 
back  to  the  light  of  day  the  palaces  of  Agamemnon, 
the  strongholds  of  Tiryns,  and  the  hoary  old  labyrinth 
of  Minos.  On  the  fringes  of  Magna  Graecia,  where  the 
empire  was  in  touch  with  the  unceasing  tides  of  western 
civilization,  as  in  Sicily  and  at  Corfu,  the  remnants  of 
the  older  days  fared  but  ill.  It  w^as  in  the  mountain  fast- 


38o    GREECE  AND  THE  ^GEAN  ISLANDS 

nesses  of  the  Peloponnesus  and  in  the  gloomy  glens 
of  Delphi  that  so  much  of  the  ancient,  and  even  of  the 
prehistoric  and  preheroic  days,  survived  as  to  give  us 
moderns  even  a  more  definite  knowledge  of  the  times 
of  the  Achaeans  and  Trojans  than  perhaps  even  Homer 
himself  had. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ACROCORINTH,  1 69. 

Acropolis,  of  Athens,  first  views  of, 
46 ;  description  of,  76 ;  approach 
to,  79 ;  gates  of,  79 ;  view  from, 
79,  80. 

Acropolis  Museum,  86,  91,  92. 

■^gina,  39,  80,   137-139- 

Agamemnon,  28, 167,  175, 180, 181. 

Agora,  at  Athens,  76,  106. 

Alcmaeonidse,  165. 

Alpheios,  223,  256-258. 

Andhritsaena,  227,  229-246. 

Aphrodite,  of  Praxiteles,  315. 

Apollo,  154,  243,  277,  278,  299. 

Apoxyomenos,  of  Lysippus,  166. 

Aqueduct,  at  Samos,  291-294. 

Arcadia,  211-228. 

Arch,  development  of,  181,  192. 

Areopagus,  107. 

Argive  Heraeum,  186. 

Argos,  187,  172-192. 

Ariadne,  31. 

Artemis,  279,  300. 

Asklepios,  3,  4,  97,  98,  203,  207, 
308-311. 

Athena,  birth  of,  83,  86 ;  strife  of, 
with  Poseidon,  83,  90 ;  sacred 
image  of,  90 ;  Archaic  representa- 
tions of,  92  ;  Pronoia,  164, 168. 

Athens,  approaches  to,  46 ;  modern 
city,  50-75;  ancient  traditions  of , 
51 ;  growth  and  history,  51,  52  ; 
street  venders,  55  ;  street  names, 
57  ;  stadium,  58  ;  street  car  sys- 
tem, 58  ;  climate  of,  59,  60 ; 
street  scenes,  61-68 ;  newspapers, 


63 ;  Shoe  Lane,  63,  64 ;  shop- 
ping, 64 ;  street  of  the  copper- 
smiths, 66  ;  giaourti,  68 ;  modern 
architecture,  69 ;  churches,  69, 
70;  icons,  69 ;  soldiery,  70,  71; 
funerals,  73  ;  conversation  beads, 
•;4\  Acropolis,  76 ;  destruction  of, 
by  Persians,  88. 
Atreus,  treasury  of,  183,  184. 

"  Balaustion,"  273,  330. 
Bassae,  235-245. 
Bee-hive  tombs,  183,  184. 
Bema,  109. 
Beule  gate,  79. 
Branchidas,  297-303. 
Burial  customs,  J2>^  246. 

Candia,  26-29. 

Canea,  18-26. 

Caryatid  portico,  91. 

Castalian  spring,  167. 

Cephissus,  50. 

Ceramicus,  11 2-1 18. 

Charioteer,  statue   of,   at   Delphi, 

166. 
Choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates, 

76,  104. 
Churches,  Greek,  69,  70. 
Cnidos,  314-317. 
Cnossos,  29-36. 
Coffee,  66,  67. 
Coffee-houses,  53,  54. 
Corcyra  (Kerkyra)  370. 
Corfu,  368-380. 
Corinth,  169,  170. 


384 


INDEX 


Corinthian  canal,  148,  149. 

Corinthian  capitals,  105. 

Corinthian  Gulf,  149,  150. 

Cos,  304-313- 

Crete,  18-36. 

Croesus,   156;  trial  of    oracles  by, 

160, 161 ;  gifts  to  oracle  at  Delphi, 

161-163. 
Cyclopean  masonry,  175,  189. 
Cyclopes,  191. 

Dances,  of  peasants,  139-145. 

Daphne,  pass  of,  124;  convent  of, 
125. 

Delos,  272-285;  legend  of,  275; 
dual  nature,  276  ;  excavations  at, 
277  ;  ancient  houses,  279-281. 

Delphi,  146-16S;  excavations  at, 
153-15S;  legend  of,  154,  155;  or- 
acle at,  155-157,  159-165;  gifts 
of  Croesus  to  oracle,  161-163; 
great  temple  at,  165;  corruption 
of  oracle,  157-165;  statue  of 
charioteer,  166. 

Demeter,  128,  130. 

Dipylon,  112. 

Drachma,  fluctuation  of,  71-73. 

Dragoman,  212. 

Dress,  of  peasants,  142,  171,  201. 

Easter  eggs,  360. 

Eleusinian  mysteries,  128. 

Eleusis,  124-132. 

Elgin  marbles,  83,  86. 

Embroideries,  311,  325. 

Ephebus,  bronze  statue  at  Athens, 

118,  1 19. 
Epidaurus,  198-210. 
Erechtheum,   88;   sacred   precinct 

of,  90. 
Erechtheus,  89. 


Giaourti,  68. 

Greece,  traveling  in,  1-17;  entrances 

to,  37-49 ;  landing  in,  44. 
Greek  churches,  69,  70. 
Greek  language,  9-13. 
Greek  people,  character  of,  14,  15, 

53.  54- 
Gremka,  255. 

Hadrian,  arch  of,  48,  104. 

Halicarnassus,  313. 

Hera,  275,  294. 

Herasum,  Argive,  186;  at  Olympia, 

260 ;  at  Samos,  291-294. 
Hermes,  of  Praxiteles,  268,  269. 
Herodotus,  90,  160-163,  290,  291. 
Hippocrates,  tree  of,  at  Cos,  307. 
Hippodameia,  266. 
Hymettus,  39,  47. 

Icons,  69. 

Ictinus,  81,  243. 

los  (Nios)  352-360. 

Islands,  of    the  ^gean,  272-367 ; 

geographical  arrangement,  273; 

communication  with,  274. 

Karytaena,  224. 
King  George,  74,  75. 
Knights  of  Rhodes,  305,  319. 

Labyrinth,  of  Minos,  31,  32. 

Lindos,  318. 

Lion  Gate,  at  Mycenae,  178, 179. 

Long  walls,  at  Athens,  42. 

Loukoumi,  25. 

Lycabettus,  38. 

Lysippus,  166. 

Malmsey  wine,  367. 
Marathon,  133. 


INDEX 


385 


Mars  Hill,  76,  88,  107. 

Mausoleum,  313. 

Megalokastron,  27. 

Megalopolis,  218-223. 

Menidi,  dances  at,  139-145. 

Midnight  mass,  353-361. 

Minoan  age,  28. 

Minos,  27-31  ;  throne  of,  33. 

Minotaur,  31,  32,  89,  112. 

Monemvasia,  365-367. 

Mycenae,  169-186;  accommodation 

at,     173;    excavations   at,    175; 

acropolis  of,  177  ;  Lion  Gate,  178, 

179;    Cyclopean  masonry,    175, 

178, 179;  inverted  columns,  178; 

tombs  at,    180 ;    reservoir,    182; 

treasury  of  Atreus,  183. 
Mycenasan  age,   28 ;    stone  pillars 

of,  33,  178. 
Mycenaean  relics  at  Athens,   120- 

122. 
Mykale,  288. 

National  Museum,  at  Athens,  118. 

Nauplia,  193-198. 

Nausicaa,  371. 

Navigation,  in  ancient  times,  273, 

371- 

Newspapers,  10,  63. 

Nike  Apteros,  temple  of,  80 ;  bind- 
ing sandal,  81 ;  of  Paeonius, 
263,  270. 

Odeon  of  Herodes  Atticus,  96. 
Odysseus,  16,  17,  370. 
CEnomaus,  legend  of,  266. 
Olympia,  overland  route  to,   247- 

258;  site  of,  259-271;  temple  of 

Zeus  at,  260,  263. 
Olympian    Zeus,    temple     of,     at 

Athens,  48,  76,  104. 


Olympic  games,  264-266  ;  modern, 

271. 
Orientation  of  temples,  242. 

Paganism,  traces  of,  in  Greek 
church,  3,  4. 

Painting,  of  statues,  91. 

Panathenaic  festival,  89. 

Parian  marble,  362. 

Parnassus,  145,  151. 

Paros,  351,  361-365. 

Parthenon,  3,  4 ;  destruction  by 
Morosini,  77,  85 ;  description  of, 
82-88  ;  pedimental  sculptures  of, 
83 ;  curious  architectural  devices, 
84-86  ;  restorations  of,  86 ;  frieze 
of,  87. 

Patras,  368. 

Paul,  sermon  to  the  Athenians, 
107. 

Peasant  dances,  139-145. 

Peasant  dress,  142,  171,  201. 

Pedestal  of  Agrippa,  81. 

Pedimental  sculptures,  of  Parthe- 
non, 83 ;  at  Olympia,  267,  268. 

Pelops,  266. 

Pentelic  marble,  134. 

Pentelicus,  38,  134. 

Pericles,  42. 

Persians,  invasion  by,  87,  88;  at 
Delphi,  164. 

Phalerum,  45. 

Philopappos,  monument  of,  47. 

Piraeus,  39-46. 

Pnyx,  108. 

Political  customs,  61. 

Polychrome  decoration  of  temples, 
92. 

Polycrates,  290. 

Poseidon,  strife  with  Athena,  83, 90. 

Praxiteles,  268,  315. 


386 


INDEX 


Propylaea,  79,  80,  81. 
Ptolemy  II.,  311. 
Pythagoras,  291. 

Religious   anniversaries,   62,   353- 

361. 
Reservoir,  at  Mycenae,  182. 
Resinated  wine,  137. 
Rhodes,    3 18-333 ;     Colossus    of, 

332. 
Rhodian  plates,  323,  324. 
Routes  to  Greece,  15,  16. 

St.  Elias,  successor  of  ancient  He- 
lios, 5. 
Salamis,  39,  43,  132. 
Samos,  286-297. 
Santorin,  334-350- 
"  Ship  of  Ulysses,  "  375. 
Shoe  Lane,  at  Athens,  63-65. 
Shopping  in  Athens,  63-65. 
Soldiery,  70,  71. 
Sparta,  216. 
Stage,  use  of,  in  Greek  theatre,  100, 

lOI. 

Stoa,  106. 

Stoics,  106. 

Suda  Bay,  19,  25,  26. 

Sunium,  37,  134-138. 


Taygetos,  216. 

Temples,  survival  of,  as  Chnstian 

churches,  4. 
Theatre  of  Dionysus,  98 ;  of  Epi- 

daurus,  204. 
Theatres,  99-103. 
Themistoclean  wall,  113. 
Themistocles,  42,  113. 
Theocritus,  312. 
Thera,  334-3  5°- 
Theseum,  no. 
Theseus,  31,  89,  in. 
Tiryns,  188-192. 
Tomb-sculpture,  11 4- 118. 
Tombs,  at  Mycena;,  183,  184. 
Tower  of  the  Winds,  105. 
Treasury  of  Atreus,  183. 
Troy,  28,  36. 

Villa  Achilleion,  376. 

"  Virgin  of  a  Hundred  Gates,  "361. 

Votive  offerings,  126. 

Xerxes,  87,  88. 

Zeus,  legends  of,  in  Crete,  30 ;  tem- 
ple in  Athens,  48,  76,  104 ;  temple 
at  Olympia,  260 ;  statue  at  Olym- 
pia,  263;  see  also,  275  </  seq. 


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